


The Devil Is A Survivor

by hirusen



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Genre: Best Friends, Canon Dialogue, Canon-Typical Violence, Demons, Game Spoilers, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I Haz Feels, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mild Insomniac Protagonist, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Finished With Game, OT3, Original Character Name, Protagonis Has Psychic/Mental Abilities, Protagonist Can Communicate With Demons In Party, Protagonist Knows Strange Shit, Screw Destiny, Slight God Complex, So Many Details It's Not Funny, This Is What I Do With My Freetime, heightened senses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-23 11:11:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6114693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirusen/pseuds/hirusen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corvis just knew when he woke up after that strange dream that something bad was going to happen.</p>
<p>He sometimes wishes he had been wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dream

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm like not even done with the game, Corvis is at level 33, but I'm like fuck it! Let's start all over again!
> 
> It will be sometime before this is finished; I'm going to be writing nearly everything that I do in the game, which includes the auction and fusion and email responses. I won't be going into detail when I'm just spamming the free battles to get new skills and level up, but it might be mentioned at some points in the main story line.
> 
> I had been writing down the dialogue options I had picked, so this is slightly...scripted? But I just don't want to change how Corvis responded since it is part of his persona.  
> ...Though I'm just now remembering I didn't write down my email responses, but I remember--mostly--which ones I picked so it should be fine!

He was deep in sleep, the window open to let the cool summer breeze flutter his blinds and gently tassel his blue hair, flowing over his pale skin as sweat started to bead on it.

He hadn't been aware of his dreams in a long time, but for some reason, he was of this one. He had been wrapped in blackness that was just as warm as the heat that still lingered from the already set sun, but a sudden thrill shot down his spine, one that made him acutely aware of everything; his slow, deep breathing, his steady heartbeat, the sensation of his cotton sheets coiled around his legs and slightly lithe frame, his body pressing against the mattress underneath him and it pushing against him in response.

_One born of human flesh...Man is now a race of some power. You, son of man, must face the power you hold. And you must face your destiny as well..._

As this voice spoke within his mind, he felt the familiar presents of Atsuro and Yuzu at his side, even though he knows they're no where near him or his home.

_Though your days be peaceful, the fated time draws near. I am your judgement. I sundered the tongue of your fathers and shattered their arrogant power._

The sensation of two people that he didn't know, a man and a woman, warmed his body like Atsuro and Yuzu did, though an odd feeling of desire sparked in his veins for one of the pair. He just couldn't tell who.

_So long as the Lord does not live in you, all living beings hold darkness in their hearts._

Again the feeling that someone was at his side warmed his skin, but this time only one person was unknown to him; the other was Naoya, his cousin, who was a genius when it came to computers. The second presents was another woman that he didn't know, and yet he felt like he strangely knew her, just like the man and woman he sensed beforehand.

_If you truly wish to be yourself, then rise and fight the darkness within...the demon inside. If you have the will to challenge your destiny of battle, son of man, state your name..._

He felt as he stirred to lay on his back, arms at his side, and his whole body seemed to glow with a white light.

"My name...is Corvis Gale."


	2. An End to the Ordinary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvis and his friends would have never believed that anything like this would ever happen.

_As He proclaimed...this world, created in seven days, shall be destroyed by the sounding of seven trumpets. You who have a will, fear the numbers your eyes shall see. Fear the time left..._

 

* * *

**Shibuya 901, 15:00**

"Mid-August..." Corvis sighed as he walked down the street of Shibuya. The summer of his second year of high school was almost over. The people visiting Tokyo have begun traveling back home. He can't help but notice that it feels like there are fewer people about in Shibuya...

Corvis let's his mind wander a little, thinking about his cousin, Naoya, whom he's been living with until a few years ago, and his call to met him outside 901...

"Hey, Shadow! Over here!" A familiar voice calls from a distance, speaking out loud the nickname Corvis has had since middle school. The boy who called at him runs up to Gale, a laptop bag most likely holding a computer slung across his chest. "Yo, how's it going?" He asks with a large smile, one Corvis can't help but return. "Real nice of Naoya to make us meet him outside on a hot day like this, isn't it? So how's your summer been? We usually meet at school, so it feels like it's been forever. Is everything good?" The dream Corvis had last night flashes into his mind as he replies, "Not really." "Uh-oh...Did something happen?" "No, not really." This assures the other male slightly. "Well, I couldn't think of anything to do, so I spent all day on my laptop. Haha!" Gale shook his head.  _Somethings never change._

"This is great timing though, man. I just ran into this problem with my coding. It has me completely stumped, so I was about to go ask Naoya if he could help..." "Oh, there you are! I've been looking for you guys!" Another voice calls and a girl jogs over to the duo. "Hey, here comes Yoohoo!" The girl is instantly furious. "Don't call me 'Yoohoo'! My name is Yuzu! Ugh, will you stop calling me that stupid nickname!? Even boys at school call me 'Yoohoo' and it's your fault!" The other chuckled. "Hehe, it's not that bad is it? It's a friendly nickname! And it's not just our class. Some of the teachers actually think your name is 'Yoohoo'." "That's because people like you keep calling me that!" "Haha, it's working!" The computer coder spoke, another grin wide on his face.

"Where's Naoya?" "Huh...? Oh, that's right! I ran into Naoya a moment ago, and he asked me to give these to Atsuro and you. He said that something's come up and he won't be able to make it." "Aww, what's up with that? Naoya stood us up! Wait, what did he want you to give us?" Atsuro asked, slightly confused. Yuzu dug into her bag and pulled something out. "Here, take them. They were a pain to carry around in my bag, too." She pulled out what looked like game systems, one pink, one blue, and one that was black and white. Corvis kept his eyes on them as he asked, "Naoya gave you these?" "Yep. Aren't these those Communications Player things? I've seen commercials for them before. They're like, 'Play will people around the world!'" "Oh, you know about them, Yoohoo? That's exactly what these are." Atsuro said. Yuzu wasn't all that up-to-date with most things technological. "The name 'Communication Player' is a real mouthful, so people just call them COMPs. They have email and a web browser, so they're more like cellphones than game systems." "Huh...Is that so? Naoya said, 'You'll all need these. Don't let go of them.'" "Eh? 'You'll all need'...? Well, there are three of them. ...Still, why would need these? I mean, I've got a COMP back at my own--Huh?" Atsuro stops mid-sentence as he stares at the COMP in wonder. "What the...? I've never seen this menu. Did he homebrew this?"

Yuzu was shocked. "What...? Do you mean he made this himself? Is that even possible?" "Huh? Don't you know, Yoohoo? Naoya's famous among us programmers. He's a genius! Something like this would be no problem for him." "Huh...I had no idea. Is he really that good?" Today seems to be the day that Yuzu is impressed by everything. "Hmm...I can't open this folder. Looks like it's protected..." Atsuro muttered, ignoring Yuzu's earlier question. "Protected...? You mean, it's set so other people can't mess with it? We can't look inside, then." Gale shook his head with a sly smile. "Atsuro can crack it." "Heh heh, that's right! Good thing I brought my laptop along..." Atsuro connects his laptop and his new COMP and begins typing furiously. "...Huh!? H-Hey, Atsuro! What are you doing!?" "Heh heh! What does it look like? I'm gonna hack this folder wide open." "You're hacking it...? Hey, Naoya's gonna be angry if you do that!" "It's not a big deal." "Huuuuh? Are you sure about this?" Corvis had to hold in a sigh. Sometimes he can't tell if Yuzu is just that morally uptight or is that much of an air-head. "You don't get it, Yoohoo! Naoya's my teacher. If he took the time to call me up and give it to me...That means he wants me to break his protection scheme! It's like a friendly greeting!"

"That doesn't make any sense! Why can't he say 'hello' like a normal person?" "Let's take a look here...What's his encryption scheme this time?" As he goes on typing, laugh escapes Atsuro. "...Heh heh heh! Isn't this intense!?" Yuzu crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks a little. "No! Only someone like you would find this exciting, Atsuro!" A few more moments passed, then. "Hrrrrmmmm...Ah, there we go! You can at least check your mail for now. Here, these are yours." Atsuro says has he hands the pink one to Yuzu, keeping the blue one for himself, which left the black and white one for Gale.

Opening up the mail function, there was an email from someone called The Observer, its subject Laplace Mail. Its contents made a cold shiver slip down Gale's spine.

_**Good morning. Here is today's NEWS.** _

_**1\. At around 16:00, a man will** be killed **in a Shibuya-ku Aoyama apartment. The wounds on the corpse are consistent with an attack by a large carnivorous beast.**_

_**2\. A large** explosion **will occur in Minato-ku Aoyama at 19:00. The cause is unknown.**_

_**3.At 21:00, a** blackout **will affect the entire Tokyo metropolitan area.**_

_**Have a nice day.** _

"At around 16:00 in Shibuya-ku Aoyama, a man...will be killed!? He'll be attacked by some carnivorous beast......!? What kind of news is this? That's so creepy..." Corvis didn't find it creepy, in fact there was only one thing that was bothering him. "The text is strange." "Hey! That's not the point!" Yuzu snapped sharply. "It also said there'll be a blackout in Tokyo today...What is this? It says it's today's news...But none of this has happened today. Why would Naoya put a lock on this...? Ooh, maybe it's code for something! Aoyama, Aoyama...Hmm...Naoya's place is near there, but is that important...?" Yuzu crossed her arms across her chest. "That's enough! This is way too creepy! I bet Naoya knew you would tinker with the COMPs and played a trick on us." "I don't know...He's amazingly smart, so I think he must have meant for this to happen." Atsuro stared at the COMP still hooked up to his laptop. "Hmm...I can't figure it out from just this. I'll try the rest of these files, too. I'm gonna go find somewhere I can think. Go kill some time. Oh, you can take the COMPs! Some of their functions still work, so you might as well try them out. See ya later, okay?" With that Atsuro leaves.

Yuzu sighed. "I bet it's all just a prank. Atsuro always acts like such a kid with stuff like this!" After saying that Yuzu's face turns slightly red, like she's just realized she's alone with Corvis. "Um...What should we do, Shadow? Why don't we wander around until Atsuro's done?" "Sounds good to me." So the duo left the 901. "Well...What should we do? We can go kill some time in Shibuya, or go somewhere else. I'm okay either way, Shadow!" Silently, Shadow lead Yuzu away from Shibuya.

* * *

**Shinjuku, Kannagi-cho, 16:00**

As usual, Japan's largest shopping district is bustling. "Now...What should we do? Wanna go watch a movie, or do some karaoke? Hmm..." Shadow had to hold in a laugh. Yuzu wasn't that bad at karaoke, but he have guessed that she suggested that just to hear him sing; he does listen to nothing but his music nearly every waking second. "Atsuro might call us, so we should go somewhere with cellphone reception..." As they walked down the street, Corvis noticed a rather suspicious group wearing bizarre outfits standing in the road. A man who appears to be the leader is making a speech from a podium. "...And lo, the smiting from God against the Tower of Babel returns!" Yuzu cringed. "Oh, man...What's with that bunch if weirdos?" "Now, along with our Shomonkai, let us bring the world together. With the power of the Internet, the world will be as one once more..." Shadow heard a scoff come from his friend. "The 'power of the Internet,' huh? Gimme a break...Are you interested in this, Shadow?" "Sure." He said with a nod. "Huh...I didn't think you would be. Oh! Uh, sorry. I didn't mean it in a bad way." Gale smiled softly. "I don't look the type, huh?" Yuzu looked away. "Well, even I think it's great how the Internet lets you connect with the world. But all this stuff about gods and bringing the world together...I don't know. Ugh! Why are we even talking about this? Let's go somewhere else, Shadow!" It was clear from the moment that Atsuro left that Yuzu wanted to go on a 'date' with Corvis.

Not that he really minds, he has no interest in Yuzu at all. It's not that she isn't cute or anything like that--if she and Atsuro could stop fighting so much they would make a good couple--it's just that Corvis has never had any romantic feelings towards woman. "For these next three days, believers in the power of the Internet will gather in Tokyo. All members are welcome to take part. Believe in His Majesty and prepare for the ordeal. That is when we shall..." The speech continues as they leave the area.

* * *

**Omotesando, 16:30**

"The stores around here are really fashionable. They're all, like, so mature, y'know? I used to go to Harajuku all the time, but I always wanted to fit in at Omotesando." After she glanced around, Yuzu gently tugged on Corvis's sleeve, getting his attention. "Hey, do you think I stick out like a sore thumb here?" With her pink, flower pattern bandanna, spaghetti strap pink top with a blue and white cover over the part where her cleavage would have been showing, along with her blue short-shorts and sneakers, she looked good. "No, you fit right in." "No way, really!? Aww, thanks!"  _One compliment and they melt._ Corvis will never fully understand women. "Don't you think that Harajuku and Omotesando have different images? Omotesando feels more like Aoyama's style than Harajuku's..." A thought crossed Yuzu's mind. "Speaking of Aoyama...Hey, Shadow...What time is it right now?" He pulled out his cell from his pocket and squeezed one of the side buttons, making the little screen on the back of his phone light up. "It's 16:30." "16:30, ugh...I was just thinking about that email in the COMP...You know, the one about someone being attacked by a 'carnivorous beast'...It said the attack happened in the Aoyama area, right? It's around the right time, too..." Just as Corvis was about to say something several police cars zoom down the street, sirens wailing.

"Those police cars...They're heading towards Aoyama..." After a moment, Yuzu let out a nervous laugh. "Ah...Ahaha! There's no way it could be true, right?" When Corvis didn't respond, the 17-year old sucked in a breath. "Hey...Naoya's apartment is in Aoyama, right? Shouldn't we...go check it out?" "Let's go, then." "Y-Yeah. I'm a little scared...But, he should be okay. Let's go!"

* * *

**Aoyama, Residential, 17:00**

As they arrive at the scene, they noticed that the police were, in fact, going into the building that Naoya lives in. The scene has been roped off by the police, a crowd of onlookers had gathered. Someone else who just arrived approaches the duo. "Naoya...!?" Yuzu exclaims, surprised. "...I'm surprised to see you, Corvis. What are you doing here?" Naoya was calm, despite the current situation, and so was Corvis as he said, "...I'm glad you're safe." "Safe?...Oh you mean the incident in the building." Naoya said as the confusion of his cousin's words cleared from his face. "Of course that's what we mean! What's going on, anyway!? That weird email you made us read made us all jumpy!" "I see..." Naoya's eyes seem to say that he knew that Corvis wasn't as concerned about it as Yuzu. "You're right...Sorry about that, I didn't mean to frighten you. The person who was eaten was a student like yourselves. He lived next door to me..." Yuzu's face paled. "He was eaten...? No way! Is what that email said really true!? But, we got the email before the incident happened...What does this mean, Shadow!?" She asked as her eyes darted between Naoya and Corvis. "It's telling the future!" The realization hit Gale like a ton of bricks.

Naoya smirked. "...Your thought process never ceases to amaze me. Usually, one would suspect that the one who sent the email carried out the murder. No wonder you're my cousin..." It was the only thing that made sense to Corvis. Even if Naoya had killed the student, his body language and eyes were too calm, too relaxed for him to have done it. There would have been some trace of edge or wildness to his cousin, but there wasn't any. The Laplace mail predicted the future. It was the only theory that worked. "I understand why the two of you came here, Corvis. But, our meeting here is an accident. We shouldn't be talking like this. Hurry and find Atsuro immediately. It's going to begin soon..." "Begin...!? What are you talking about?" Naoya glanced away, clearly not going to answer Yuzu's question.

"...There isn't much time left. Listen carefully to me, both of you. Do not turn away from what is about to happen now. Do not be afraid to stand up against it. That is when the door of truth will open...Overcome your fate." With the last words spoken, Naoya sharply twists on his heel and leaves. "Oh...! W-Wait a second!" Naoya's already leaving as she speaks up. "...He's gone. Something...didn't seem right with him, huh? I wonder what's wrong." After she says that Corvis's cellphone starts to ring. The caller ID says Atsuro; Gale picked up.  _"Yo! I figured out how to crack the encryption on those COMPs! I need yours so I can unlock them. Meet me in front of the Electric Museum in Shibuya!"_ Shadow closes his phone after his best friend hangs up. "Um...Why don't we meet up with Atsuro? I'm all confused from everything that's happened so suddenly...Maybe Atsuro's figured out something on his end!"

* * *

**Shibuya, Electric Museum, 17:30**

The Electric Museum is north of Shibuya along the Yamanote line, east of Miyashita Park. Atsuro waved to them as they got closer. "Yo, what took you guys so long? How far away did you go when you were killing time?" "We went to Naoya's place." "Huh!? You guys went to see Naoya?" "Oh, yeah. Well..." As Yuzu tells Atsuro about what happened in Aoyama, the email, and what happened at Naoya's, Corvis's mind went back to the dream he had the night before and the feeling he got when he read the Laplace mail.  _That dream had to be a warning. It has to be. There's no other explanation._

"Wait, what? Are you saying that the email actually came true? Hmm...Anyway, if you ran into Naoya, why didn't you call me? I had some stuff to ask him." "Sorry. So much was going on that we kind of forgot you." Atsuro shrugged. "Oh, well. That's okay. Bringing it up now isn't gonna change anything. So, what's going on? Is what was written in that email actually coming true...? C'mon...There's no way an email can predict the future. Are you sure you didn't just fall for one of Naoya's pranks?" All of this, a prank? "Would he really do that?" Corvis asked softly. "When you put it that way...Well, Naoya's human, too. He must have sense of humor." "But someone really did get killed! The police were there! I can't believe that they'd be apart of his joke!" "Hmm...If Naoya was telling the truth, that email wasn't a warning, right? Unless someone really did predict the future. It's probably just a coincidence." Gale shook his head. "I'm not sure. There's more in the email." "What do you mean? Oh yeah, it mentioned an explosion and a blackout, too. If it really was predicting the future...It would be odd if those don't happen. Still, they seem pretty unlikely." "What...? But..." Yuzu was very much lost on this matter, seeming to believe that the email had predicted the future, and Corvis doesn't think she's wrong.

"Who cares, anyway? Once I crack these COMPs and look inside, it'll all make sense." "Hrmm...Okay, though I'm still not convinced. So tell us what you found out, Atsuro." Atsuro sighed. "Yeah, well...I was completely fooled. I think Naoya knew I'd try to get inside one myself. It seems these three COMPs are always monitoring each other, so I can't crack one alone. See, a COMP has this always-on wireless feature that allows it to exchange data with--" "Argh, my head...Enough with the explanation; just hurry up and do it!" "Man, you never change...Anyway, I'm gonna unlock the systems, okay? Turn your COMPs on, you guys!" And so they did.

While they waited for Atsuro to finish, Corvis looked up and saw someone who looked a lot like Naoya. He also noticed that, while Shibuya was a popular area, the streets were empty and he seemed to stand out. His handsome face was expressionless, but it gave off a cold feeling.  _I've got a very bad feeling about this. Something is coming, and it's not gonna be good._ "Okay, done! I'm restarting the COMPs!" As he did, the menu booted up again, but after a second it flashed.  ** _Decryption confirmed. Booting program. ...Condition green. DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM ready to boot. Booting DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM._** Not long after that the code eventually came to a stop and a message was written on the screen: Peaceful days died. Let's survive.

The next thing he knows, the screen projects a blinding light. Suddenly something was summoned into the street. "Wh-Whoa! Monsters came out of the COMPs...!?"  _No, not monsters._ Corvis thought as he got a better look at them. "Aaaah! Wh-What is this!?" One of the creatures had wings and glanced around, setting her sights on Yuzu. "Ahhh! I thought I was going to suffocate in there...! So this is the human world? Hmm. Then these humans must be the ones who summoned me. We will fight, then! If I win, I will have my freedom! Let's go!" The flying creature giggled, ominously. "Hehehe! Get ready! I'm not gonna let you guys go! You have to die so I can go free! Hehehe!" It went right for Yuzu, who screamed, "Aaahh! Don't come any closer!" Yuzu struck out at the flying creature, getting a good hit on it. "...Hellllp!...Shadow!...Atsuro!" "Yuzu! Damn it...We're coming!" Atsuro shouted. "W-Wow! You're pretty tough...for a human, anyway!" The creature that went after Yuzu casted some kind of spell and it look like it had healed itself. The monster in front of Atsuro spoke. "Gyarrrr! Humans are tasty demon food!" It then attacked Atsuro. "Whoa! What are you!?" They exchanged blows. "Gyaaaarh! Why do the human's attacks hurt!? Nobody said anything about this..." "Wh-What the!? That should've hurt me way more than it did!" "This is weird. Humans are supposed to be soft and chewy! Not hard!"

 _I did hear that right, then. These things are demons._ Corvis just knew, for some reason, that they were the second he saw them, but he had to hear one of them say it just to be sure. "FIGHT ME, HUMANS! ME...WIN!" The demon in front of Gale shouted as he came at him. It looked like it used a spell of some kind before it did, and just before it attacked Atsuro managed to speak. "Be careful, Shadow! You've got to get them before they get you! You've got to fight!"  _I know that already!_ Shadow knocked a good hit against the demon, but its hit seemed to take out the energy he needed to make a follow up attack, so he endured the second one that came from his foe.  "GRARR! YOU STRONG! THIS...FUN! FIGHT SOME MORE!" After Shadow's attack did some damage to his enemy, Atsuro finally realized what Shadow saw all along. "Th-The attacked worked! Our attacks work on these guys!......! Is it because of the COMPs!?"

Ignoring that for now, Shadow attacked his foe again, getting in the first and killing strike. "GRRA...GRAAAGH...ME LOST...IF ME DEFEATED BY ONE WHO SUMMONED ME, BECOME MASTER. THIS CALLED CONTRACT....ONLY HEARD OF THEM...ME KOBOLD, DEMON OF WAR, TO MEET YOU, NICE!" After it spoke that, the demon vanished. "...Yes! We can win, you guys! We can't die here!" Shadow then moved so he was standing behind what he assumed was a Pixie, which Yuzu attacked. Atsuro struck out at the demon in front of him and managed to beat it. "Gyahh! I'm surprised I could actually be defeated! Gahh...I've heard that if I lose, I become your servant. Oh well...I'm the monster, Kabuso. Pleased to meet you..." Kabuso then vanished and Atsuro flanked the only side of the Pixie that wasn't covered, boxing it in. Once again, without giving the Pixie a chance to recover, Yuzu lashed out and this time, defeated it. "...Ugh! I can't believe I lost...to a human! But I'll abide by the contract. I HAVE to lend you my powers. I'm the fairy, Pixie. Don't you DARE waste me!" And then she vanished too.

"I...I'm still alive...We're all still alive! Aaaaah, that was so scary!" Yuzu sharply turned to face Atsuro. "What's going on!? What was that!? Atsuro, what did you do!?" "I don't know, either! I just undid the encryption! The program activated itself!" "Then...The COMP is what made this happen just now? That doesn't make any sense! That's just impossible!" Corvis listened to the argument, but was more concerned about what he was now seeing.  _Numbers?_  "Let's go to the police! We can't hold onto something this dangerous!" "We should check them out." Gale suggested, earning a little of Yuzu's ire. "Check them out!? What more is there to see!?" "Calm down, Yoohoo. I think Shadow's right." "Huh!? What are you saying!? What'll we do if demons come out of these things again!?" "Will you settle down a little!? I know why you're freaking out! I was there too, you know? But even after what just happened, is it right to throw everything out immediately? We don't even know if that's the safest thing to do at this point." "Naoya said to keep them." "Ugh...He did say that we would need them..." Yuzu's tone was of complaint, but it seems to Shadow that she might be calming down a little. "I'm gonna take a deeper look into these COMPs, okay?" "Y-Yeah, okay. But if something comes out, we're making a run for it! I've had it with this!"

After getting the ok from Yuzu, Atsuro connects the COMP to his laptop and begins to examine the files. About a half hour passes before he speaks again. "Ah...I get it. So that's why..." "What, did you figure something out?" "Yeah. First, this process is named the Demon Summoning Program." "Demon!? You mean, like...from books and myths and all that stuff!?" "How should I know? I can't wrap my head around a computer can summon them..." "Rituals can summon them." "Rituals...You mean like in fantasy manga? I suppose it's possible to convert the spells and procedures to program, but......Anyway, the other function I found in this COMP is name the 'Harmonizer.'" "What does that mean?" "To 'harmonize' means to match, or adjust. It's similar to the summoning program, and I have no idea what principles are behind it. But it seems to match some wavelength so that our attacks work on demons...And likewise, it attunes their attacks to lessen the damage we take from them." Yuzu sighed in replace of a groan. "I'm totally lost...I don't get any of this! What is Naoya trying to do!? Summoning demons, protecting us from them...What does what us to do!?" "Maybe we fight demons?" Shadow suggested. "But why!? Are we supposed to bring about world peace or something?" "Huh...? Wait a sec...That's it!" "What? Don't tell me it's really for world peace..."

Atsuro waved his hand in front of his face. "No, it's not that. Do you guys remember that email?" "The one with those predictions? Y-Yeah..." "I thought about how the COMPs functions would work in conjunction with it...Take this for example...The death in Aoyama was blamed on an animal attack, right?" "Huh...? Yeah..." "What if it wasn't an animal...but a demon like ones that appeared earlier?" "...! Wh-What are you saying!? If you're trying to scare us, knock it off!"  _More like scare you, Yuzu._ "I'm not trying to scare you. I want to sort this thing out. Okay, to start out...If the email to our COMPs really did predict that...Then we would have known where and when the attack was due to occur before it happened. So, if we wanted to, we could've been there at that moment. In addition, the COMPs are modified to summon demons and fight against them. So, what conclusions can we draw from this?" "We could prevent them?" Gale spoke, though he held uncertainty in his voice because he wasn't sure if that was the same thing Atsuro was getting at. "Yeah...That's what I think, too." "Huh...!?" "There's been a lot of weird stuff in the city recently. The Internet's full of rumors. There have always been strange things happening, but there have been a lot of them lately. What if they were all ignored by the public...but they were actually caused by demons? And what if we can use these COMPs to fight those demons?" A sudden revelation overcame Yuzu. "Then...are you saying that these COMPs were made to fight the demons who are doing all this!?"

Atsuro nodded. "Yeah...That is, if demons are really the cause of these things." "I'm so not doing that! Why don't we just give these back to Naoya or somebody else?" "You don't trust Naoya?" "No, that's not what I mean, but..." "Naoya's really good at planning things in advance. I don't know why he chose us to have these, but there must be a good reason behind it. I mean, I don't want to have to fight monsters like that again, either...But...If we get attacked by demons like the other victims, I can't give this COMP up...Without them, we're just normal people. We don't stand a chance against demons!" "If...If you're right, Atsuro, and this weird stuff is being caused by demons...And even if these COMPs were made to fight those demons...Then why us!? The police should be the ones dealing with this stuff!" "We can give them to the police, but if we do, we'll never get them back. That said, do you think we can really protect ourselves without them, Yoohoo?" Yuzu was getting on the verge to tears. "I'm sick of all this...Why is this happening...?" After a moment, she noticed that Shadow was staring. Not a her, but...

"What's wrong, Shadow? Why are you staring above my head? Is something there?" "There's a number there." Yuzu and Atsuro looked confused. "Ever since we had that battle, I've been seeing these numbers above people's heads. Most of them have a 7, but the three of us only have a 1." "A number over our heads? What are you talking about?" "I don't see anything, but you look serious...What's going on? Man...Is that because of the COMP, too? We know so little about all this...I feel like my head's about to blow up!" "Hey, why don't we go back to Naoya's place, after all? All this about the COMP, the email, and everything else...We really need him to tell us." "Will he even be there?" The way he had left when Corvis and Yuzu encountered him made the teen doubt. "It's better than sitting around here. C'mon, Shadow. Let's try to see him." "Yeah...I need to talk to Naoya, too. Let's go to Aoyama, Shadow!"

* * *

**Aoyama, 18:30**

When they came back, Atsuro in tow, the police were still investigating and the barriers were will up. "Man...We'll never get near Naoya's room like this..." "Hey! Over there!" Yuzu points to a mailbox that's filled with newspapers. "Huh...Isn't that Naoya's mailbox?" It was. "Looks like he's been gone." "Hmm...That's what it looks like. You guys were lucky that you ran into him today, huh?" Suddenly, all three of their COMPs' email alerts went off. There was two emails; the first was from Naoya.

_**It seems you've used the COMP. Well done. I figured that the general confusion would be dying down by now.** _

_**I gave you three the COMPs because you will need the powers of the demons. If you want to survive, you'll have to learn how to use them.** _

_**I don't have much time right now. Head to Aoyama Cemetery. You'll meet a person there who will influence your future actions.** _

The other email was from someone known as DS Admin.

_**Congratulations! You have earned the qualifications to become a demon tamer.** _

_**You can now summon a demon at any time as an ally and command it.** _

_**Please note that "contracting" with the demons only occurs during the initial booting of this program. Defeating demons summoned via other COMPs does not apply, either.** _

_**Also, a tutorial function has been added to assist you in battle. Please make use of it.** _

_**Have a safe and pleasant experience in your new life as a demon tamer.** _

"What...Who's writing these? Can he hear what we're saying or something? This is crazy!" "Haha...Naoya's insight is his greatest strength. He's a genius when it comes to knowing what people are going to do next. Anyway...Did you guys read the other email?" Corvis let out a soft laugh. "'Demon tamer,' huh?" "Yeah, I wanted to point that out. Remember what those demons said during the battle? About submitting to us, contracts, lending their power...Sound familiar?" "Wait a sec! Gah...I can't keep up with all this! It's all so unreal...! Um, so basically...The demons we fought can now be summoned from the COMPs? And they'll be our allies?" "Yeah, but I can't say for sure until we actually try it out...After we got that email, something called 'Teams' got added to the COMP menu. Maybe this is why Naoya entrusted us with these COMPs." Yuzu flung her arms down to her sides. "Geez! If that's what he wanted all along, he could have just told us!" "Haha, yeah, I think so too. Sometimes he's so smart I can't understand him...In any case, the email from Naoya...It said to go to Aoyama Cemetery, right? It mentioned someone 'who will influence our actions,' but who could that be?" "Sounds like someone we're destined to meet...Do you think it'll be human?" "Who knows...? Considering all that's happened, anyone would be suspicious..." "Let's trust him."

Atsuro smiled at Corvis's words. "Haha...Well, no matter what it might be, we'll never know unless we go there." "...Fine." Yuzu said, not exactly happy with the whole situation. "I'd rather ask Naoya about this than sit around feeling scared and stupid! Well...I guess I've got no choice! If you two are going, I'm coming too! Let's go!"

As they left for Aoyama Cemetery, Atsuro carefully pulled Shadow aside. "I didn't bring this up earlier because Yuzu was getting all emotional...But the Skill Set function looks like it'll let us used spells and such, too. If we have to fight demons again, it'll help to set our COMPs to let us use them. It looks like there's a skill set for each of us right now. That's a total of four skills." Atsuro showed Corvis what he was explaining with his COMP. "You can change them by messing around with the Team Setup option." "I can? Not you?" Atsuro sighed. "No. I tried, but it said 'invalid user'. I guess you're the only one who can." Corvis patted his friend on the back. "Don't worry. I'm sure there'll be something for you to do in no time." He did poke around in that option, but for the skill that was yet to be active, he didn't have the correct stats to active it.  _Wonder how we can raise those?_

* * *

**Aoyama Cemetery, 19:00**

Yuzu and Atsuro was un-nerved the moment they stepped into the Cemetery; though it was mostly Yuzu. Corvis wasn't bothered at all. "Here we are...So, who would be in a place like this?" "Don't tell me it's a ghost...I feel like there's something out there...All those graves!" "Hang on a second...Aoyama Cemetery...That rings a bell..." Gale instantly knew why it did. "The email!" "Huh...!?" Yuzu voiced, startled by Corvis's sudden yell moments before a large explosion sounded in the distance, making the ground shake and a near deafening boom echo in their ears for a moment. "Eeeeeeeeek!" After the ground stilled, Yuzu spoke up again. "W-Was that an explosion!? It sounded like it came from the other side of this forest!" "An explosion in Aoyama Cemetery around 19:00...It's just like what the email said!" "Look! Something's coming...!" Yuzu gasped as she pointed to the forest.

A large demon stomped its way out, turning back to the forest. "Tch...That woman! I never knew humans could have such power!" Its voice and tone were enraged. Suddenly, one of the people Corvis remembers seeing in Shinjuku appeared. "Wendigo! Wait...!" He spoke, drawing the demon's attention. What made Corvis a little nervous was that the number above his head said 0. "Gwahaha! Fools! You're nothing like that woman! Do you really think you puny things can stop me!?" Wendigo shouted before it lashed out, opening a fatal wound in the Shomonkai believer. As he hit the ground, blood seeped out from under him until it was a large puddle around him. "Ugh...Lady Amane...I'm so sorry..." His weak, dying words said, his number completely disappeared and his body and blood vanished.

"Aaaaaaah!" Yuzu screamed.  _Of course she screamed. She's never seen anyone get killed before._ Then again, neither had Atsuro or Shadow, and while Atsuro paled to a sickly white, Corvis was totally calm. And in his calm, he noticed that Yuzu's scream had drew Wendigo's attention. "Hmm? You humans are pests! Kill one, and another takes its place! I'll kill you all!" It took a few steps forward before a woman came out of the trees, dressed in a Shomonkai outfit, yet it was slightly different and then his dream came into his mind like a spear to the heart.  _She was the woman I felt with Naoya's presents. She must be the one that he was referring too._ "I've found you, Wendigo. I won't let you get away this time." She spoke softly, but firmly, her aura radiating peace and light like a Priestess. "Grah...! So the wench thinks she can catch up to me!" "Hey! You need to run away! It's too dangerous!" "Forget her, Atsuro! That demon killed someone! We have to run, now!" Yuzu shouted and turned to try, but Corvis had sensed them the moment Wendigo's attention fell on them. Other demons started to come out of the woodwork, surrounding them. "Wh-What the!? How many demons are there!?"

Shadow moved himself in front of Atsuro, his guard up. _What the? Am I seeing this right...?_  "All right...I'm gonna do this! I'm gonna live through this!" "You there! It's dangerous here! You must evacuate immediately!" "But how!? We're surrounded!" Atsuro shouted across the field to the Priestess. Corvis saw that her gaze landed on the COMPs in their hands and guessed that he was wondering why they have them, if he was reading her expression right. "H-Hey! Say something!" "...I guess I have no choice. I'll cooperate with you. But Wendigo is far too powerful a foe for you right now....Leave him to me! I will follow your orders. Direct me as you please."

Moments after she agreed to cooperate with them in order to help them get away, Atsuro spoke up. "What the!? There's a message on the COMP's screen...!" Glancing down, Shadow saw it too. "...This must be the tutorial that email mentioned!" "They showed up when we were fighting too! I guess some functions won't be usable..." "Hey, Shadow! Are there any functions you can't use on your COMP anymore!?" "The floating numbers vanished." The disappeared from his sight the moment the battle started. "...Those numbers you mentioned back at the Electric Museum!? What the hell are they!?...Oh wait! It looks like there's more to the tutorial!" Some more messages popped across the screen just long enough to be read. "So I've got to use these demons' skills, eh? Well, whatever it takes to survive!" "Ugh...We've got no choice but to fight? I'm glad we have demons on our side, I guess..." Yuzu weakly spoke, not upset about having to use demons and fight, but not thrilled about it either.

After having Yuzu move down to be close to one of the demons behind them, Shadow advanced to take on a pair of Kobolds, taking out the one flanking the leader. He told Atsuro to take on the lone Kobold and messages about gaining extra turns flashed across the COMP screen. "So, to make their extra turns disappear and get them for ourselves......we've got to hit 'em where it hurts or land a critical attack!" A simple one-two combo and it was gone. "Alright! I defeated it! So demons summoned by other people don't join you when you defeat them? Man, that's no fair...!" After a short pout, Atsuro moved back to where he was thanks to Kabuso's ability.

"Priestess, you said to leave Wendigo to you. Take him out." Corvis ordered as he kept his eyes on the demon in front of him, even though it was weakened. "...Very well." He heard her move to face the demon. "Wendigo...Go back from whence you came!" Atsuro, having a clear view of her, started to speak. "Am I seeing things, or is she holding a...COMP?" Stealing a glance, Corvis saw it as well. With one powerful spell, she nearly killed Wendigo, but it managed to hang on. "Ghhh...Humans...! I've learned your smells! This is far from over!" It shouted before it vanished. "I won't let you escape....Please excuse me, I must go after that demon." "Go. We can handle these ones." The calm in his voice chilled his friends, he could feel it. He heard and felt as the Priestess left the field, and Gale drew his attention back to the situation at hand. It wasn't too much longer before all the other demons fell.

"We made it through, somehow...I'm still shaking..." Atsuro said as he gasped for breath. "Th-There's nothing we can do about it...What we just went through...A...A person was killed..." As she said this, Corvis could tell she was fighting back tears. "Hey, the animal that attacked that person in the apartment...It was a demon, wasn't it?" "Probably..." He said solemnly. "Yeah, that's what I thought..." "Demons, huh...? Looks like we're prepared for the worst...In any case, I never thought the Shomonkai would be fighting against demons...They were using COMPs, too, and the demons didn't really scare them. That explosion must've been caused when they were fighting earlier. They knew about the demons way before we got our COMPs!" "That means...The demons have been around for a long time, right...? What are the Shomonkai...?" "I don't know." Gale said with a shrug. He knows the name, but not much else. "Yeah...We really don't know anything here...Anyway...There's no doubt that that Shomonkai girl had amazing powers. That big demon, Wendigo, seemed to be afraid of her, too...Could she be the person mentioned in that email from Naoya?" Gale gave Atsuro a small smile. "She might be the one." "I wonder, too. She seemed really strong, and I got this feeling from her..." "The emails, the demons, and now the Shomonkai...Damn it! It's too much to think about! All we can do now is pray that nothing more happens today..." Not long after Atsuro spoke those words did everything go dark. "What the--? The streetlights went out!" "What's going on!?" Yuzu said as she tightly held Corvis's arm; he felt Atsuro's hand wrapped around his free wrist. He kept his body relaxed and calm so they wouldn't freak out too badly. "The email came true." "The email...? O-Oh, yeah! That's it!" "What's wrong, Atsuro?" "...Shadow's right. It's a blackout! Remember what was in that first email? It said there'd be a blackout! Is this for real...? We don't know if it's citywide, but so far it's all coming true..."

Keeping one arm wrapped around Corvis's, Yuzu pulled out her phone and he felt her tense. "No way! I can't use my phone!" "Huh...? Why not? How can you not have reception in a place like this?" "Is this because of the blackout?" "But the phone centers have their own backup power, right? This doesn't make sense!" "I don't know! I just can't use my phone!" Yuzu and Atsuro bickered back and forth. "Guys, calm down. It'll be alright." Atsuro sighed. "I hope it's only temporary...I'm really tired." "It's pitch-black...I never thought Tokyo would be so dark at night...Hey, what are we going to do now...?" "Wait...! Someone's coming!" Atsuro said, his voice hushed.

"So, you are all safe. It's as I thought...You're demon tamers, as well." "...! Aren't you that girl from a little while ago...!?" Atsuro asked, surprised. "I am Amane Kuzuryu, maiden of the Shomonkai. It's nice to meet you..." "R-Right. I'm Atsuro Kihara and she's Yuzu Tanikawa." Kihara introduced himself and Yuzu, though his hand was still coiled around Corvis's wrist. "Oh, um...Hi. And this is..." Yuzu glanced to Corvis. "I'm Corvis Gale." "Kihara, Tanikawa, and...Gale. I shall remember your names. The Wendigo seems to have released his minions into this cemetery. I have set a simple barrier around this place tonight. It's best if you stayed here." Yuzu's body tensed a little. "M-Minions? You mean, demons!? You said we should stay, but...this is a cemetery!" "It's better than dying. Wait here until dawn, then head for the station. I must be going now." "Hey! W-Wait!" Atsuro called, but Amane was already gone. "...Damn, what's going on!?" "She said to stay here until the sun came up...Wh-What should we do...?" Yuzu squeezed the arm she held onto tighter. "Let's follow her advice." "We don't have a choice. If she's right, then it's too dangerous to go anywhere now..." "B-But...This is a graveyard...Are we going to be okay?" Corvis gently touched Yuzu's arm. "We'll be fine." "Y-Yeah...I don't think I can go far anyway...My legs are like jelly..." "We don't have a choice. Let's take turns keeping a lookout...Ugh...I've never wanted it to be morning so hard in my life!"

* * *

**Aoyama Cemetery, 23:45**

Corvis was on watch. After talking it over, Atsuro agreed to just let Yuzu sleep for now; she was too stressed as it was and she would need the rest more. She was using Kihara's laptop bag as a pillow, since it was reinforced to protect his computer. Gale heard her shiver just a little past 23:00, so he stripped out of his jacket and covered her with it. Atsuro was tossing about in his sleep, so Corvis moved him; his head was now resting in Shadow's lap, the teen mindlessly combing his fingers through Atsuro's black hair, his loose beanie off as he slept.

He heard his COMP go off and picked it up, reading the emails he had recieved. The first was another one from Naoya.

_**I'm sure you've noticed the Laplace Mail by now.** _

_**Corvis, everything in the world has causes and effects.** _

_**If some intelligence could record and analyze every event simultaneously, the future would no longer be a mystery to us.** _

_**Ultimately, nothing created by man can ever be truly perfect, but you can use these messages to guide your actions from now on.** _

The second one was from his friend sleeping in his lap.

_**Hey, it's Atsuro.** _

_**I was messing with my COMP and saw that the email app's still working, even in the blackout. If you know someone's COMP address, you can send mail directly to them. Plus, it looks like two COMPs will automatically learn each other's addresses when they get close enough to each other. It takes a while, though. I'm going to teach Yuzu how to use this function.** _

_**Too much stuff happened today. I'm so tired. I just want it to be morning...** _

He replied to his friend's email:  ** _I'm tired, too._** He then went to read his last email, this one from COMP.sys.

_**A brief explanation of** Extra Turns **:** _

_**The higher your Ag, the easier it is to earn Extra Turns.** _

_**The attacker is more likely to earn them.** _

_**Certain actions raise your chances to earn an Extra Turn or take away an enemy's;** _

_**Strike an enemy's** weakness **.** _

_**Land a critical hit.** _

_**If your attack misses or the enemy has** any resistance **to it, you may get the opposite result. Pay attention to the enemy details on the top screen.** _

Well, that was good to know. "Should tell them in the morning." Corvis said as he watched another demon go by.  _That Priestess, Amane...She hesitated when she said my name. Why is that?_ The thought had been eating at him for some time.  _YOU NO SLEEP?_ Corvis sighed as he looked up at the stars. "No. Not really. I have insomnia." He could feel Kobold tilt his wolf head in confusion. "It means I have a hard time getting to sleep. It's a mild case though."  _YOU SLEEP WHEN FRIEND WAKE?_ "Yeah, might as well. Kihara will just pester me until I do; he knows I have it, but also knows that I have a good handle on it." Corvis wasn't sure what was stranger, the fact he was having a conversation with a demon who's voice was in his head, or that he even has that ability at all.

He asked Yuzu and Atsuro if they could hear their demons while they were still in their COMPs, but they couldn't. Gale could and he could even hear the ones not in his team, though they were fainter. Then there were the other things that started happening. The feelings of danger, quickly gaging the moods of those around him, reading people so much better than he could before, sensing the demons more sharply than Atsuro and Tanikawa. And then there was that bizarre calm that he always had, though was more prominent now. He's always been able to keep his cool under any kind of fire; including handling and fighting demons it seems.

He heaved a sigh as he laid on his back, careful not to wake up Atsuro before he does himself. "Things are only going to get harder from here, but I've got a very bad feeling about tomorrow..." He spoke to the air as he felt Atsuro begin to stir awake in is lap, so he closed his eyes and finally got some much needed sleep.


	3. Tokyo Lockdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvis was uneasy about something after Atsuro and Yuzu woke up that morning; the Laplace Mail they recieved, for some reason, calmed that unease.

**Aoyama Cemetery, 8:30**

The sun was just reaching above the treeline when Atsuro woke up. He stretched and glanced around; Corvis was already awake. "Hey." "Morning." Another hour or so later, Yuzu finally stirred awake. "Oh, morning, Shadow. Did you get some sleep...?" "A little." "Did you see anything on watch?" "Demons. But they couldn't come near the barrier." "That girl was right. Some demon-looking things passed by, but they didn't notice us." Atsuro spoke, still not fully believing that the Priestess's barrier would actually work, let alone hold up. "Yeah... I saw 'em too. B-But now that the sun's out, we can get out of here, right!?" Yuzu didn't do so well when she was on watch alone; it was the only reason why she had asked if he had gotten any sleep, since he stayed up with her, letting her wake him up if he wasn't already when she felt scared.

She was right, they could get out of the cemetery, but there was something bothering Corvis ever since he watched the sun rise. Like he was teetering on the edge of destiny's blade and if he couldn't keep his balance, he would be impaled on the spikes of death below.

"Don't get careless." Corvis commented and Yuzu cringed. "Ugh...Why do you have to go and say stuff like that, you idiot!?" "Hahaha, yeah. I hope that's the last time I ever have to sleep in a cemetery! But the lights never came back on...Hard to tell in daylight, but there's still a blackout." "Yeah...I still don't have any cell reception. So...none of that was a dream..." A moment after she spoke, their COMPs went off. "Huh, that was the COMP's email beep. Wonder who it's from..." "G-Guess we should read it..." Opening it, he read the email from Naoya first.

_**Corvis, you're still alive, aren't you? I'll explain the Death Clock to you.** _

_**The Death Clock displays the number of days a person has left to live.** _

_**The details are:** _

**_The Death Clock is only available to the party leader._ **

**_A single digit (0-9) is displayed._ **

**_If a person had 10 or more days left before death, nothing is displayed._ **

**_Finally, the Death Clock is simply a value calculated by the Laplace system. A person's actions can cause the value to change, so be careful._ **

The second one was the Laplace Mail for that day. 

_**Good morning. Here is today's NEWS.** _

_**1\. Power outages will** continue  **in all parts of Tokyo within the Yamanote loop through the day. It is unknown when power will restored.**_

_**2\. Poisonous gas is suspected to have escaped from underground pockets. All train service is cancelled across all lines. All exits from within the Yamanote loop will be closed.** _

_**3\. At 13:00 in Chiyoda-ku and Bunkyo-ku, a localized blizzard will occur. Three victims will be**_ _murdered **by a snowman.**_

_**HaVE a nICE daY.** _

After reading the Laplace Mail, Corvis felt strangely calm and that feeling he woke up was gone. It was like a breath he had been holding was finally let out. Atsuro and Yuzu, on the other hand, blanched. "A-A death clock...!? What's up with that!? So we can see how long people have left to live?" "Hey, Shadow...Didn't you say before that you could see a number over our heads...?" "Yeah, I did." "Well...? What was it? Hey! How many days do I have!?" She demanded to know. "...It's 0, isn't it?" Atsuro's words cut through the tension starting to build between Corvis and Yuzu. "Yesterday, you said...The number was 1. Which means...our number right now...it's 0, isn't it?" "That's right." "Ha...Haha...Oh man...I'm gonna die today?" "That's it. I've had enough! This stupid conversation is over! C'mon, let's go. This is all some big hoax...Let's hurry back home!"

Yuzu was holding her arms around her stomach, upset and scared. "The trains don't work." "......! Wh-What do you mean!?" "Calm down, Yoohoo. I checked the other email. Don't you remember what it said? 'All stations are locked down.' If that's true, we won't be able to use the trains." Atsuro explained at Yuzu's panicking words. "B-But...! How can we know for sure unless we go? The email might be wrong about that!" "We can only hope so." Corvis said with a sigh. "Yeah. I'm with you. No sense in griping about it here. Let's check the nearest station!" Yuzu let out a groan. "God, please let Shibuya Station be open...!"

Corvis leaned down and grabbed Atsuro's laptop bag, handing it to him as he helped Yuzu to her feet. "Come on." Gale said, turning to leave the cemetery. "Wait up!" Yuzu called, quickly clinging to his arm; Atsuro was next to him, eyes holding a little worry in them. "I'm fine, Atsuro." "...Alright. Let me know if something's bothering you." Corvis smiled, curling his fingers with his friend's; Atsuro tightened the gesture with his own fingers, a small smile on his lips. Yuzu still had a hold on his other arm, both of hers wound around the limb as they walked out of the cemetery and into the streets.

As soon as they emerged in Omotesando, Yuzu suddenly stopped. "Hey, you guys! Look...!" She pointed to an intersection and both Atsuro and Corvis were stunned. The road was littered with ruined cars. Other vehicles seem to have been abandoned. "What the hell...? What happened here?" The duo had released their hold on Corvis, taking a few steps closer to the carnage in the streets. "What a mess...Did all this happen just because we had a blackout for one night?" "It wasn't the blackout..." Corvis hushed.  _Not this much destruction. A few accidents when it first happened, sure, but this? No, this was demons._ "Huh? What do you mean?" "Headlights aren't hooked up to the power grid. Accidents this bad wouldn't have happened..." Atsuro explained. "Then...It really is because demons are in Tokyo...?" "There's no proof, but that'd be my guess. Let's hurry...We're almost to Shibuya." Yuzu nodded shallowly. Corvis offered his arm to her, which she took; Kihara didn't take his hand again, but he did tuck a few fingers with his.

Finally, they reached Shibuya Station. Or rather they had tried. The streets to Miyamasuzuka are choked with crowds. No one can get near Shibuya Station. Corvis could see Self-Defense Force vehicles and a barricade past the crowd. "What's going on?" "They're saying something, but I can't hear them over the crowd." Atsuro said as he strained to hear. Yuzu had noticed that Gale had closed his eyes. "What is it?" "I can hear them." "Well what are they saying?" Corvis focused in on one of the SDF members who was speaking. "Poison gas had leaked! This area is dangerous! Please stay away from Shibuya Station! All lines, including private rails, are affected. Remain calm until the problem is solved! Police blockades are in effect throughout the Yamanote line, including overpasses." "All the rail lines...? Then how are we supposed to get outside the Yamanote circle!? Hey, what's doing on here!? I demand a full explanation for this!" He heard a worker demand. "The cause is currently under investigation. Until then, please obey our instructions! To ensure everyone's safety, we ask for your understanding and cooperation! We're also looking into the explosion that occurred in Aoyama Cemetery last night. If you have any information, please inform a disaster relief worker immediately!" The angry mob slowly quiets down upon hearing the SDF officer's repeated message; Yuzu and Atsuro able to hear what the officer was saying for themselves and were shocked to find that Corvis's relayed statements were matching word-for-word with the officers.

Eventually, the gathered crowd began to disperse, as if they have given up. "Damn...not only aren't the trains working, we can't even get near the station...!" Atsuro spat in anger. "Was that stuff about the gas leak true? You think this is because of the demons, too...?" Yuzu asked, but as Corvis looked around he didn't believe it.  _All of this, the barricade, the blockades around the entire Yamanote line, and the SDF setting all of this up within a small time frame?_ "I don't think so." "I agree..." "Huh?" It seems Yuzu didn't notice what Atsuro did. "You think they put up all these barricades and blocked in the entire area overnight? No...It looks to me like all this was prepared way in advance..." "W-Wait, you mean...?" Kihara nodded his head. "Yeah...There's something else going on here that we don't know about. Damn...Everything that email said is coming true. At this rate, we're gonna...!" "Let's raise the number." "You mean change how long we have on the death clock...? Good idea, Shadow! Naoya's email said the number changes based on what we do! So let's do something about all this! That Laplace Mail stuff about not escaping the Yamanote area and us going to die today...Let's prove it wrong!" Yuzu said with a little jump. Atsuro let out a laugh. "Haha...I'm surprised to hear that from you, Shadow. The death clock and the Laplace Mails do run on the same predictive algorithm...Which means the death clock uses what the Laplace Mail says to calculate a number. Its probability ratio is pretty high...The underlying process must be real complicated."

"H-Hey, slow down, whiz kid. You're getting a little ahead of us non-eggheads..." "Oh, sorry. It's an important point, though, so listen...With an algorithm this complex, one mistake could cause a very large error. Which means...if we make sure the things the Laplace Mail predicts don't come true...Its predictions become useless, affecting the death clock's readout!" Yuzu let out a gasp of understanding after a minute. "Does that mean...We don't have to die today?" "Seems that way." Corvis reassured her. "So we have a chance!" "It's not certain that the results will be thrown off, mind you...But it's probably safe to assume that we can change the outcome." "Uh...Is this really possible?" Yuzu questioned, her voice a little uncertain. "Haha, what's the matter, Yoohoo? This was your idea." "Huh? But...I didn't know all that stuff you were talking about...!" Oh, that explains it.

"Haha, there's the Yoohoo we know. Don't sweat it, okay? Alright! Let's do whatever we can to find a way out of this lockdown! As long as we prevent what's predicted in those emails, we can beat the death clock!" The confidence in Atsuro's voice had calmed Yuzu down. "Yeah! C'mon, let's go! Even if the area inside the Yamanote line is locked down, there must be a secret exit!" "Right! But we'll have to be careful of the police and the Self-Defense Force..." "Huh? Why...?" "We were at the cemetery." Gale told his friend. "He's right. The SDF guy at the station said they were looking into the explosion. If they happen to detain us, they might take away our COMPs..." "Oh, yeah...Okay, then. We'll be extra careful."

* * *

**Shibuya, 9:00**

While they were still at the station, Corvis and his friends overheard a commotion coming from the barricade. "When the hell're you gonna let us out!?" Some punk demanded and the SDF captain was calm in his reply. "We'll lift the lockdown once we can confirm the area is safe. Please wait until then." "Yeah, yeah, you said that already! I'm askin' when that's gonna happen!"  _Seems moron's got a thick skull._ The SDF captain sighed; it seemed it wasn't the first time he's heard that question today, and Corvis was pretty sure that it won't be the last. "No matter how often you ask, the answer is the same. Now go back to the safe zone!" "What!? You wanna say that again!?" "Uh-oh." Atsuro hushed. It was starting to look bad.

"Quit yappin' like a dog and shut your cake hole."

An unknown voice spoke and a male only a few years older than Corvis and the others approached the punk. "Huh!? Who the hell said--" He angerly started to say, but that anger turned into fear when he saw the other. "......! K-Kaido...!? I-I'm sorry, man!" The other scurried away. "...Hmph."

As Gale took in the other man, he felt his heart stop and a sudden warmth tingled in his skin. "Kaido...? Like, Kaido of the Shibuya Daemons...?" "You know him, Atsuro...? Ugh...more 'daemons'...That's the absolute last thing I want to hear about now..." Atsuro shook his head. "C'mon, Yoohoo. They're not quite the same thing. A daemon is a guardian spirit. The Shibuya Daemons are one of the more charismatic punk gangs. Kaido's their leader. They're really famous in Shibuya." Though Corvis smiled when he heard Kihara tell Yuzu the explanation Gale had given him about the difference a few years ago, his heart kept fluttering at Kaido's name.  _What's going on?_

"So he knows Shibuya well?" "Hey, good idea! You're really on the ball, Shadow!" Yuzu said with a smile. "Kaido IS known for treating his people well...Yeah, let's go talk to him!" Corvis's stomach filled with butterflies and he suddenly felt nervous with each step they took toward the other teen. Kaido turned at their approach, eyes narrowing slightly. "Huh? Who're you guys?" "I'm Corvis Gale. And these are my friends, Atsuro Kihara and Yuzu Tanikawa." "Cool. I'm Kaido. You guys need somethin'?" "Yeah. Is there a secret exit from the Yamanote circle?" Kaido frowned. "If I did, I'da used it already. We're having trouble gettin' through the central ward." Kihara let out a sigh. "I had a feeling you'd say that..." "Everyone's in the same boat here...If that's all, I'm gonna get going." "Goodbye." Corvis said with a small bow. "Huh...? No need to be so formal, man." He said with a warm laugh, a smile curling his lips. "Alright, be seein' ya." And he walked off.

"How'd it go, Shadow? Were you able to see what the death clock said about Kaido?" He nodded. "It was 6." "Six days? I-It was that short? That means he has less than a week, right...!?" "Don't be ridiculous, it was just a coincidence. Six days is better than our time..." Yuzu glanced to her feet. "Y-Yeah, but..." Atsuro's face softened and he took looked down. "Sorry...Didn't mean to bring you down like that. C'mon, let's get going! We'll find a way out and change our fate!" A small smile rose on her face. "Y-Yeah...! Let's go, Shadow!"

As they were leaving the Station, their COMPs alert went off. There was two more emails, one of them was from Naoya.

_**How are you doing, Corvis? I've written a new application for the COMP, so I'm sending it to you.** _

_**Once you read this email, the option for the** Devil Auction **should be available in the COMP menu.**_

_**You should be getting an email from the auction site, too.** _

_**You know about** Macca **, the currency of the Netherworld, right? You get it when you defeat demons. You need Macca to bid in the auctions. Money makes the Netherworld go 'round, too.**_

_**Please keep surviving. I look forward to seeing you again.** _

The second email was from DA Registrar.

 **_Welcome to the_ ** _Devil Auction **!**_

_**We are a member-based auction site that helps you with the bothersome tasks of forming contracts with demons.** _

_**Demons will make themselves available as merchandise to be bid upon by Devil Auction members. The winner will be able to make a contract with the demon and will have a powerful new ally.** _

_**Spend your wages of sin at the** Devil Auction **!**_

Well, that was not what he had been expecting from such a site. Then again, he wasn't quite sure what kind of quality demons will be offered on such a site, either. "A Devil Auction...!? Wh-What is this? What's going on!?" "Demons selling themselves."  _Like hired muscle._ "...It looks that way. One thing's for sure now...Demons have been on this world for a long time, and some people have known about them." "H-How can you be so sure?" Yuzu asked, a light hesitation in her voice. "Think about it. For an auction to exist, you need someone to run it and you need someone to by from it. If there are other bidders than just us, then the auction had been around since before then." "Uh-huh...Okay, I get it. Still...it's kind of a shock. We were living here but we knew nothing at all..."  _Maybe you two knew nothing about this, but for some reason this auction sounds familiar to me._ Corvis thought privately, not letting such things touch his face. "This is an opportunity." "Opportunity...? Yeah, I get it." "Well, I don't get it! I don't get anything!"  _Oh, you have no idea how true that statement really is, Yuzu._ "Oh, sorry. Well, there's a chance we might die today...And considering what's happening, it would probably be because of a demon." Tanikawa crossed her arms over her chest. "Ugh..." "...But if we can use this website to get powerful demons as allies, we can fight back! In other words, our chances of surviving will go up!" "So you're saying that we have to get demons so we can fight even more demons? I've had enough of this! Why do we have to fight!?" "We have to live!" Corvis slightly yelled as he took Yuzu's shoulders, making her look into his eyes. "Urgh...That's true, but...Let's see if we can just run away from all this...okay?" Atsuro placed a hand on Gale's shoulder. "Yeah...If we can escape, that would be the best option. But if there's ever something we can't run from...We'll have to make up our minds..."

Corvis removed his hands from Yuzu's shoulders and straightened. "I agree." He said, looking Kihara right in the eye. Corvis's conviction was as strong as ever and the duo saw it. "Yeah. We'll have to use this auction and do everything we can to help us fight..." But no one was still ready to leave the area yet, so they just wandered about for a bit. As they did, Corvis taking Atsuro's hand so he didn't stray from the others or run into something, he opened up the COMP menu and opened the auction application. Once there, the site gave him a simple overview of how the site worked. Basically, as he acquired demons successfully, either through bidding or just paying the upfront price, his rank will go up; if he failed to do so, it will go down. The higher his ranking, the better demons he'd have access to.

 _Even then, it'd be best to check in whenever we've faced a new demon or just to see if anything changed with the selection. Outside of new demons, I doubt they'll say when they've changed the roaster._ Browsing through the current selection, he saw that there was one Pixie, Kabuso and Kobold, and two Ogres. The Pixie and Kabuso he had no interest in, and while he did have some in the Kobold, he went to check out the two Ogres. What he noticed first was that under what they were there was a title of some sort; looking at the stats and star rating, he knew why. The better the star rating and title, the stronger the demon was. At first glance, just based on the titles, there wasn't much of a difference, but when one takes a look at the accompanying stats, the difference was easy to see. The regular Ogre's strength, for instance, was 9; the Kind Ogre's was 11. Other stats were different as well, including health and mana.  _So, getting the Kind Ogre first seems like the best choice._

After all, if this auction updates like he expects, it's possible that the next time he opens it, that demon may be gone. Clicking on the selected Ogre, a profile of some kind opened up, and Corvis could see the other bidders. He also saw what the starting bid was and how much it was to directly buy the Ogre.  _It'd be best to just try and win this one by bid; I want to get the other Ogre if I can, and if not then the Kobold I saw on the other page._ So he entered the bid. Each bid only lasted five seconds, and Corvis only pitched in when he felt it was a good time to raise the current bid. It didn't pan out.

 _Oh well. Let's look at that Kobold._ This one had a four star rating, so it's buy price was still a little high, but not as high as the Kind Ogre's, which was a five star demon. Looking at how much Macca they had gathered as a group, Corvis chose to buy this demon outright. It had a little message on the screen after it was bought:  _YOU HAVE GUTS TO LIVE! GUTS TO FIGHT! ME BE YOUR GUTS! YOU GOT BARGAIN!_ After making the payment, Gale went to look at the other, three star Ogre.  _Have to bid on this one, too_ _._ Not because he had wanted to get the Pixie and Kabuso, but because they only had so much Macca and they didn't have enough to match the buying price. That bid didn't work, either; once it reached 130, he had to drop out. It was over what they had.

Closing the application, Corvis went up to the Team one and assigned the new Kobold to Yuzu; she only had a Pixie anyways, and they weren't that strong in a straight-up fight.

* * *

**Shibuya, Miyashita Park, 9:30**

"Hey Atsuro, how do you know so much about tech stuff?" Yuzu asked as they entered a park, drawing Atsuro's and Corvis's attention; Corvis had let go of Kihara's hand once he was done messing around with his COMP. "Hm? Didn't I tell you before? Both my parents are engineers. They work in Silicon Valley. They always ask me if I want to come along, but I never do...My English is too bad. But I've played with computers since I was little. It's like I grew up in the net. My parents weren't around and my friends had cram school, so net friends were all I had..." "Was that fun?" Corvis asked, a small smile on his lips after hearing Atsuro's explanation to Yuzu's question. "Fun or not, it's all I had. Though...it was fun...Even a grade school kid like me was on equal footing with the adults, you know? I guess that's the upside of being anonymous...Most of the people I knew were adults. It was great back then...Not as convenient as now, sure, but nothing bad happened."

Gale patted the small of Kihara's back, reassuring him. "Come on. Let's see if we can't find a way out." Atsuro gave him a small smile. "Right."

* * *

**Ebisu, 10:00**

They had tried to get to Ebisu Station, but it was also blocked off; just like in Shibuya. "Huh!? We can't go through here, either!?" Yuzu was starting to get worried. "There has been a toxic gas leak! Please stay away!" An SDF Soldier shouted from a distance, most likely to another bystander who wanted to get past. Corvis's blue eyes scanned each person of the SDF and found that none of them had a Death Clock, which meant they had longer than 10 days. "Damn it...There really are troops along all the railroads! We might die today, too..." "If only our cellphones worked, I could call my mom and tell her that I can't come home...Oh! That reminds me! The COMPs' email works, right? Can't we contact the outside?" Yuzu asked Atsuro. "Oh yeah...! Sure, let's give it a try!...If this works, I'll be able to send an email to my COMP at home..." He typed in his personal COMPs' email address and tried to send an email. "...Huh?" "What's wrong?" " ** _'Cannot connect to the specified server.'_**...That's what it says." "It's not connecting?...What's that mean?" Atsuro stared at the light blue COMP in his hands.

"Well, Naoya made this COMP to begin with...Maybe it can't use standard connections to communicate with regular COMPs." "In other words, it didn't work. Fine...Let's go check out someplace else." Yuzu spoke with a defeated sigh.

* * *

**Omotesando, 10:30**

As they went on looking for a way out, they had come into Omotesando again. "Man...Omotesando...I could never have imagined something like this when I came out here yesterday."  _Yesterday...Doesn't feel like it has only been a day since that happened._ Corvis thought as he noticed Yuzu's eyes glancing to someone a little further a way. "Hey...! Isn't that...?" The man turned his head and it seemed like he recognized Yuzu. "Hm? You're...Yuzu, right? I remember you from Haru's shows." He spoke, his voice having a nice, deep tone to it.

Again, like with Kaido, Corvis's heart skipped a beat.

"Yes, I'm Yuzu Tanikawa. I'm surprised you remember me, Gin!" Yuzu smiled and Gin grinned back. "Heh. A man in my line of work has to have a good memory for names and faces." "Ahaha! Sounds like a tough job! Oh, um..." Yuzu trailed off, glancing to Corvis and Atsuro. "You know each other?" Gale asked; he had been standing only a foot or so behind Yuzu. "Oh, there's this indie signer I really like named Haru. Gin's kind of Haru's guardian. I met him at a show, and we've spoken a couple of times since. Gin always watches out for people, so everyone tends to consider him a big brother." Gin laughed softly. "You flatter me, Yuzu. So, are these two your friends? We haven't met, right?" "Oh, sorry! Feel free to introduce yourselves, guys." "I'm Atsuro Kihara. Nice to meet you." "I'm Corvis Gale." He said with a soft smile. "The name's Eiji, but everyone calls me Gin. I run a bar over that way." He pointed down the street to an area where it was common to see little bars here and there. "I'm in a real fix. Everything from the ice to the fruits in the fridge are wiped out. Well, no sense crying over spoiled milk. Just gotta wait for the power to come back." His relaxed nature was infectious.

"You been here long? Bet you've been out since the blackout...Heh. What a sorry situation. Hurry home and let your folks know you're safe, okay?" "Uh, about that..." Yuzu shyly began before explaining to Gin what had happened at Shibuya Station, his stormy grey eyes narrowing a little. "What? The station's locked down and no one's getting through? Are you pulling my leg...? Hm...the bar TV's busted, and my cell's dead, too. Looks like we're all in the dark...Man...What's going on?" Yuzu's face lit up a little, not from joy, but from surprise. "Your cell doesn't work either!? That's been a huge problem for us, too! Well...sitting here won't get us home, so we're thinking of looking for a way out." Gin's face looked a little grim. "Sounds like a big deal. But if the government's on the job, this should blow over soon." "I hope you're right..." Tanikawa said, her eyes falling to the concrete. Gin gave them a smile. "Just you watch, it'll be over by nightfall. I'm going to go catch some Z's at the bar...If you need help with anything, just give me a holler." "Okay! Thanks a ton, Gin!"

Atsuro tapped Corvis's shoulder after Gin turned and began walking away, waiting until he was out of earshot before asking, "Hey, Shadow...What did the death clock say about Gin?" "It said 6." "6!? Why!? I-Is Gin going to die in six days...!?"  _I hope not. Same for Kaido._ "But this is...This is insane!" "I see...I hoped if we stayed close to people with high numbers, we'd have better odds of survival." Tanikawa calmed a little with Kihara's words. "I get it...People without a number are likely to live for a while. They might help us." "You think so?" "We can't know for sure, but we should do everything we can to increase our odds of survival!" Atsuro stated. Gale gave him a smile as they started to wonder around again.

Once more, Corvis checked in with the auction and like he thought the roaster had changed. He tried to get an Ogre and a rather strong Pixie through bidding, but he didn't have any luck.  _We need more Macca. And that means finding and fighting demons._ The only problem was where they might be.

* * *

**Roppongi, 11:00**

"Hey, where are you going?!" Yuzu shouted as she and Atsuro tried to keep up with Corvis after he just bolted.  _There's something calling me to come here._ As he slowed down, Yuzu and Kihara finally catching up to him, they all saw that a crown had gathered on Roppongi Boulevard. Music was flooding the streets and Yuzu perked. "Huh? Hey, I know that song...!" As they reached the very back of the crowd, a voice spoke through a mic. "Sorry about the volume! I'm using a battery-powered amp. Blame it on the blackout! Here's hoping my songs get you all out of those Blackout Blues!" The whole crowd cheered and Yuzu practically squealed in Corvis's ear, "Omigosh, it's Haru! Awesome! This is just what I needed to cheer me up!" Haru must have heard her because her eyes landed on Yuzu. "Looks like I've got a fan in the crowd! I'm about warmed up now--so here's one for you!" Haru began signing and Yuzu again let out a loud yelp of joy. "This is so great! Haru is the best!" Yuzu goes on cheering.

 _Indeed she is. Her voice is almost hypnotic. It's like her voice is alive; like it's her power._ Corvis thought. Finally, the performance comes to an end. "Of all the places to see a show from Haru...! That was so cool!" "Her singing was pretty good, but is she that famous?" Atsuro asked. "Yeah! Uh, in the indie scene. She's the same Haru I told you about earlier. She used to be in a band called D-Va, but now she's gone solo." "Solo? What happened to D-Va?" "I don't really know much about when she was in the band...I just heard they split up when Aya, one of their members, quit to study music." "Huh...So her name's Haru? Well, I think you can count me as a fan too!" Corvis smiled. "Me three!" He did listen to nothing but music nearly all the time, and he swore that he's heard that same song Haru was playing before. "I know, right? Haru's so awesome!" "Hahaha..." Atsuro laughed gently at Yuzu's sudden energy.

"Well, we've rested long enough. We don't have much time left..." "Yeah, we should be focused on surviving. Hm? What's the matter, Shadow?" He had been hoping Yuzu or Atsuro wouldn't noticed the grimness in his eyes. "It said 0." "That's what the death clock readout on Haru was...!? We have to tell her!" "Wait a sec, Yoohoo!" "What now!?" "What would you say? If you tell her straight up, she'll think you're crazy!" "Ugh...You're probably right." Yuzu said as her rage from Corvis's words slowly died down at Atsuro's. "Don't forget, our number is 0 too. We might die today first. If we don't do something about that, how are we supposed to help anyone else?" "Yeah...Good call. There's no use worrying about that until we have a solution to this whole mess." "Right. C'mon, guys. Let's go..."

* * *

**Shinjuku, 11:30**

They had only just reached Shinjuku when Yuzu let out a moan of exhaustion. "It's so hot...Wish the buses or taxis were working. I'm getting all sweaty...Is Atsuro still not back yet?" Said friend had went ahead to check the roads under the rail bridge by himself when Corvis said that they should take a little break, seeing how much energy had been drained from Yuzu by all of this walking. Kihara was jogging back, slowing his steps as he spoke. "No good. All the roads under the rail bridge have been blockaded by the SDF. It's just like they said. Everything inside the Yamanote line is locked down." "Maybe we're trapped..." Gale said, a little piece of hope for his friends that there was a way out slipping away. Deep down, Corvis knew that they weren't going to find a way out, that they would be stuck in this lockdown until whatever was coming came. But he didn't want to tell his friends that, so he kept it tucked away in the back of his mind.

"Haha, maybe so..." Atsuro glanced past Corvis's shoulder and he straightened a little. "Huh...? Is that Keisuke?" Kihara moved to the other male, Corvis and Yuzu on his heels and the other turned, surprise on his features. "What the...Atsuro?" "I thought I recognized you, Keisuke! Long time no see! Keisuke helped me out big time in middle school. I wouldn't be here without this guy!" Keisuke's cheeks turned a little pink. "I-I wouldn't go that far..." His face changed then, going a little pale, like he's just witnessed something he can't unsee. "Atsuro...! No, all of you! Your number..."  _What?_ "Huh? Did you just say--!?" "N-Never mind! I have to get going!" He sharply turned a left, leaving Atsuro lost. "What's up with him...?" "He knew our number..." Corvis pointed out. "What? So that guy ran away because he saw the death clock said 0!? That's horrible...!" Yuzu proclaimed, but Atsuro flinched. "Wh-What're you talking about!? Only people with COMPs have access to the death clock! And Keisuke...Well, he's not that kind of guy." "What makes you say that?"

"He always used to stand up for the weaker kids, so they really depended on him. He saved me a bunch of times too...If not for him, I'd have been a gofer for three years." "Weird...He seemed pretty shy himself just now." "Yeah, I have no idea. I lost all contact with him after we got into high school...By the way, Shadow...Did you remember to check his death clock readout?" Gale nodded. "Yeah, it was 1." "1...? Damn it! Keisuke's gonna die tomorrow, then!" Corvis gently smiled at patted his best friend's back. "We'll figure something out, ok? Let's focus on surviving for today." "Yeah, okay."  _Still, Keisuke knew our number. Which means he has a COMP; the question is, where did he get one and what is he doing with it?_

Corvis was going through the auction again, trying to procure another demon for them; it was a 5-star Pixie this time, wanting to give Atsuro a demon that could heal him when combat got too rough, but he didn't get her.  _I really suck at bidding. We just don't have the Macca to out bid anyone else. We need to find some demons and collect more._ He was about to close his COMP when a thought crossed his mind. He went to the Team application and went into the Skills subset. Taking a better look at it, he realized that there was more slots open to them than just the one with the spell attached to them. In total, there was 7 slots; three Command Skills, three Passive Skills, and one Auto Skill.  _If I had to guess, Command skills can be used during battle, Passive Skills can be activated when certain conditions are met in combat and can be use outside of battle, and Auto skills are activated at the start of combat._ Or at least that's what every RPG he's played has taught him. He went to the Passive Skill list, since all of the current Command Skills were in use, and found that he could now activate the Leader Soul skill.

 _Is it because I'm stronger than when we first got access to these? Do we have to keep getting stronger so we can use more powerful skills down the road?_ His judgement told him yes. Corvis activated the Leader Soul skill so that he could use it and then closed his COMP.

* * *

**Shinjuku, 12:00**

While Corvis was messing around in the applications, the group had wandered around the area, not quite sure where they should be heading next. However, as they moved forward after he was done, Corvis saw someone resembling Naoya duck into a side street. "Hey, Shadow! Wasn't that Naoya?"  _I'm not quite sure; it looked like him, but felt different. One way to find out, though._ "Quick, after him!" "Gotcha!" They gave chase after Naoya into the abandoned side street.

"Hey! Where did Naoya go?" "Look, over there!" Yuzu shouted as she pointed to the mouth of another side street; someone or something ducked into it. "I just saw someone go that way...! It could be Naoya!" "Alright! Let's go after him!" As the words left Atsuro's lips, a chill flashed down Corvis's spine, seconds later after they started to head toward the other side street, demons sprung into the area surrounding them. "What!? Why are there so many demons out in broad daylight!?" "I guess it doesn't matter to them what time of day it is..." Atsuro clenched his hands into fists. "...Well, whatever! We've gotta do something about them! What's the plan, Shadow!" Corvis was calming taking in the situation, an odd familiarity was ringing in the back of his mind that he's been in this situation before a long time ago. "Let's find Naoya." "So we deal with these guys first, and then continue looking for him?" "That's the safest way. If we don't defeat them, they'll probably come after us." Yuzu's voice was steady, despite being all alone and so close to demons.

"Hey guys! Be careful of where you are in relation to the demons! If they surround someone who's all alone, it'll be dangerous!" Kihara, who was behind Corvis, spoke. "I-I know! We have to work together, so let's think out moves out carefully!" "Screw begin a good sport! They'll go down faster if we gang up on them!" Kihara shouted and Gale smiled at him over his shoulder.  _Based on how much we've grown since yesterday, Yuzu's most likely to make a move first._ This was like a turn based RPG, Corvis suddenly realized. He knew Yuzu would move first because when they first encountered their demons, it was her agility the first thing she improved.

He also noticed that whenever his eyes rest on a demon for a few seconds, he could see the main demon's name and what others it had with it. Near Yuzu were two Moh Shuvuu, the one closest to her had only one Kobold, the other two. "Yuzu!" He called, waiting for her orange-brown eyes to land on him. "You see the demon closest to you?" "Y-Yeah." "I want you to move in front of it and focus your attacks on the Kobold with it, then to the Moh Shuvuu once it's defeated. Okay?" Her body shook a little with fright, but she nodded her head and moved. "I'm...I'm not scared...I'm not...!" She attacked the Kobold with all her might, having an extra turn waiting, and was able to beat it, but her Pixie was hurt. She used Dia on her and all damage had been erased.  _I see. So even certain Command Skills can be used outside of combat if they're a healing skill._

 ** _Your excellence in battle had made you eligible to access the_** _Macca Bonus **feature.**_ The message suddenly popped onto all of their COMP's screens. "Whoa! Wh-What the...?" Atsuro shouted, startled at first, but he kept reading the messages as they appeared.  ** _Your_** _Macca Bonus **is based on your performance in battle. You may gain more Macca if: You get extra turns during battle, sustain low damage, or defeat many foes at once. Conversely, if an ally falls or your attacks fail, you may get less**_ **Macca.** "So we receive this bonus if we get extra turns, or don't get hurt in battle, huh? We just gotta stay on top of things, then, as we fight...All right, I'm up for it!"  _As am I. We can use all of the Macca we can get our hands on._

Corvis moved next, getting beside a Pixie and attacking her and her Ogre companion. Without having another demon on his team like Yuzu, Gale was only able to take down the Ogre, but those guys were a pain to deal with anyways, so that was a plus. "Atsuro, get as close to Yuzu as you can get. She'll need the help." "But--!" "I can handle these guys. Watch Yuzu's back." Atsuro wasn't sure where this strange calm was coming from, but he agreed to his friend's orders.After he did so, the demons moved. The other Pixie with two Ogres combo had used the Ogre's Auto Skill and bound Corvis, limiting his movement during his next turn. The faraway Kobold got a few steps closer and the now lone Pixie attacked him, getting killed without much effort. The battle went on as Corvis gave orders, telling Atsuro and Yuzu which demons to target first. "I gotta calm down...Remember yesterday...I can do this...!" Kihara spoke as he prepared to attack one of the demons for the first time since this battle started.

After one of the Moh Shuvuu's was dead and the other Pixie defeated, another demon was summoned into the area. "Huh!? More demons!? Where the hell did they come from!?" Atsuro yelled as he tried not to get jumped from behind by the other Moh Shuvuu. The other demon was a Waira and it was with a Pixie. As it moved toward the trio, the Kobold was finally taken down; it headed for and attacked Corvis, who's first instinct was to kill the Pixie. It was killed, but Corvis's Kobold was also taken down, leaving him defenseless and was barely able to hang on when Waira assaulted him again. "Corvis!" Yuzu yelped in terror and moved beside the Waira, using her Pixie's charm to heal him a little; she then used her Kobold's aggravate to increase her chances of getting a critical hit and then struck. It was getting weaker. Atsuro moved behind Waira and attacked, none of them letting up the pressure. Finally, Corvis struck the final blow. "A-Alright...! We did it..." Atsuro breathed, his body shaking slightly.

They went down the alley that Yuzu had spotted Naoya taking, but they ended back on the main street. Kihara let out a defeated sigh. "We lost him. Back to square one for us...Why'd the demons start showing up? What's with that crazy auction? The questions keep piling up. We have to find him..." "I'd like to give him a piece of my mind, too! It's his fault we're in trouble!" Yuzu exclaimed, her voice cross. "I'd rather find an exit." Corvis said, even though in though he knew that they most likely wouldn't find one. "Oh yeah...That might be a better plan." "I agree. If we don't make it out alive, I'll be missing out on all my favorite forums!" Corvis was barely able to hold in a laugh; Yuzu just sighed. "I guess everyone lives for something..." "D-Don't give me that look..." Atsuro said as his cheeks flushed slightly and Gale couldn't tell if he meant him or Yuzu or both of them. "Hey, Shadow, does the death clock still say 0? It hasn't gone up, has it...?" He shook his head. "No, it's still 0." "I had a feeling you'd say that...We can't find a way out, the death clock's stuck on 0, and the hours march on...Damn it! What're we supposed to do!?" The COMP beeped then. "Hm? We've got mail..." "About the Macca Bonus?" "Oh yeah...Something like that came up on the COMP, didn't it?" They opened it and read the contents for both emails.

_**The Macca Bonus increases the amount of Macca earned based on various situations that occur in battle. These are the calculations used to provide bonuses. In the case of a negative result, Macca will not be deducted from your total.** _

_TECHNICAL **+5% x turns**_

_**Extra turns you gain plus extra turns the enemies lost.** _

_NO DAMAGE **+20%**_

_**Finish a battle without taking damage.** _

_OVERWHELM **+30%**_

_**Defeat 3 enemies with a single attack.** _

_CASUALTY **-30% x victim**_

_**An ally dies during the battle.** _

_SHIELD **+-20%**_

_**An ally Voids, Reflects, or Absorbs an attack: +20%** _

_**If an enemy does: -20%** _

_**The maximum per battle is +/-20%.** _

The second one was about Skill Set Bonus.

 _**The new Skill Set Bonus function is now available. If certain conditions are met during battle, you will be able to set any command skill already registered in the COMP on a demon. Please note that the key to this function, an energy known as** _ _Magnetite **, is still relatively unknown and we are continuing to experiment with it.**_

_**[Current Information]** _

_**Magnetite is thought to be a type of vital energy.** _

_**The Skill Set Bonus involves charging large amounts of Magnetite with the COMP and releasing it to affect your demons' abilities.** _

_**Magnetite is thought to charge faster if you fight efficiently, similar to how the Macca Bonus is generated.** _

"So something called a Skill Set Bonus had been added on top of the Macca Bonus...It's more to worry about in battle, but if we play our cards right, it could pay off." "Got it." Yuzu huffed a breath at the two. "This is such a guy thing...You better not do anything risky going after this stuff! Y'know, it just occurred to me...Who's sending these emails?" "Naoya, I assume." "You think so? It sounds like someone completely different to me..." "Naoya might not have written them, but the wording and such should be based on his. Like robots with AI personalities...Their code is still written by humans. These advice emails might be generated by a program that Naoya created. Like, when you write software for general use, you gotta leave documentation. The emails are so impersonal because they're general documentation...Which means this Demon Summoning Program was always meant for third-party use." Kihara explained. "I see..." "As long as Naoya didn't program the manual with false info, we can trust what it says."

As the group took a moment to regain their nerves, Corvis's COMP beeped. He checked it to see that there was a new demon available in the auction. He went to it and it turned out to be three; one Moh Shuvuu and two Waira. He glanced through the rest of the list and found that there was an Ogre up for purchase as well. Glancing at their asking prices, Corvis chose to buy the three star Waira out of the new demons. Waira's message was short: _...Let us go then. Follow me._ He then went and bought the Ogre. It's message was the same as Kobold's. Gale felt a little better now that he had another demon for Atsuro and himself. He gave Waira to Kihara, leaving the Ogre for his team.

 "...Corvis? What's on your mind?" Gale jumped a little, not realizing that he had spaced out, and looked at Yuzu and Atsuro. "I was just thinking, we need to have Macca if we want to get demons from the auction, but we've only encountered a few so far." "True. And it seems that, for now, they aren't in places too open or that have too many people around." Kihara admitted and an idea struck Corvis. "Let's head over to Shibuya. There's a park nearby that fits your observation that we could try." "Y-You want us to fight demons? Well, I guess if we take care of them, less people would come across them and they wouldn't get hurt." "That's what I was thinking too." Kihara agreed with Yuzu's words. "Alright, let's go!" So off to Shibuya they went.

Much to the shock of his friends, there  _were_ demons at the park. "There are demons here, too!?" "Everyone will be in trouble if we leave them alone...We better take care of 'em!" As they agreed, Gale felt a strange wave wash over the area.  _What was that?_ He wanted to ask the others if they had felt that as well, but his main concern was the demons they were facing. It didn't take them too long to beat them. Once they were done, Atsuro heard Corvis's COMP beep. "A message?" "An alert; a new demon's been added to the auction." "Which one?" Yuzu asked; neither her nor Kihara had any idea of which demons had been added or not. "Bilwis I imagine. It was the only one we hadn't faced before." He opened up the app and saw that a three star Bilwis was available. "You gonna bid for it?" "Nah. I'll just buy it. Besides, even if I did win it in the bid, I wouldn't have enough to get any other demons." Corvis explained as he purchased the new demon. It had a message just like all the other demons he's bought:  _Hey, you pay pretty well! I like that! Glad to be of service!_ Gale's lips spread into a smile. "What is it?" "When I buy a demon at full price, they have a little message that pops up, usually something that they've said. He seems to like that I bought him rather than bid; though I guess he would have been happy either way."

Kihara's eyes told him that he knew something else was under the surface of what his closest friend was saying. Gale sighed. "...You remember when I asked you two if you could hear your demons when they were still in your COMPs?" They nodded. "I only asked that because I can. My demons sound like how we're talking right now; your demons are only a little fainter. When I've bought new demons, I can hear their voices in the message that pops up." "So, you're saying that you can hear demons inside of altered COMPs like ours?" Corvis shook his head. "Not exactly. If I know they have a COMP, yes, but if I don't know there's sort of this odd...sensation, I guess, that radiates from them. It's similar to how the demons feel."

Atsuro looked a little worried. "Did you feel that around Keisuke?" "I did, but it was as he was leaving, so I'm not sure if I really felt it from him or a demon that was nearby." Some of that worry left his friend's face, but not all. "There's something else I wanted to ask." "Shoot." Atsuro said. "Before this last battle, did either of you feel a strange wave wash over us?" "No. I didn't, at least. What about you, Yoohoo?" "I didn't notice anything." Gale's face tightened a little. "...Why can I feel these things?" "Maybe because your the leader of our group? I mean, all of our COMPs have you as the leader." "Can that really explain everything I've been experiencing? Hearing the demons in my head, feeling their presents long before they appear and more sharply than either of you, the sensations of danger that wash over me before we're thrusted into combat, being able to feel the moods of everyone in the area human or not, reading people a lot better than I could before? And then there's the fact that all of this feels so familiar, like I've heard of and used the auction before; like this isn't the first time I've had demons at my side." Kihara and Yuzu looked at each other and then back to Corvis. "Now that you mention it, that aura of calm you've always had is more noticeable. Even in battle you're voice is relaxed, and there's no trace of concern or worry in your movements. It really is like you've done this before."

 _ME NOT SURPRISED. ME SENSE OLD BLOOD IN YOU._ "What?" Atsuro and Yuzu looked lost. "Who are you talking to?" "Ogre. And what do you mean, you sense old blood in me?"  _OLD BLOOD FROM LONG PAST. MEMORIES NOT THERE, BUT MIND AND BODY STILL KNOW. WARLORD OF GREAT POWER IN BLOOD._   _Blood of a Warlord?_ "...What rank was I?"  _YOU SHÔGUN, HAVE TWO STRONG DAIMYÔS, REST KERAI. YOU MET DAIMYÔS AGAIN._   _I've met my Daimyôs again?_ "What about my Kerai?"  _TWO HERE. OTHERS NOT._ "What are you talking about, Corvis?" Ogre's presents left and Gale turned to his friends. "Ogre said that the reason this all feels familiar to me is because I'm a decedent of a Warlord. Apparently, Kaido and Gin were my Daimyôs and so far, the only Kerais to have come back to my side are you two." "Were there others?" "It seems so, but they aren't here." Stunned into silence after hearing at, it took the others a bit to process all that information.

"If what Ogre said is true, then there really  **have** been demons in Japan!" "And for a long time too; this had to be in the Warring era." Both his companions were still in shock, but it wasn't as bad now. Corvis glanced at his phone and realized what the strange wave had done. "We were taking out those demons 4 minutes ago, right?" "Huh? Yeah, do you...What the hell!?" Atsuro had glanced at his watch and noticed the same thing. "It's only been a minute!? What's going on!?" "I think that wave I felt stops time. I didn't notice it before because we've never actively sought out demons before." The explanation made sense.

"...Well, I'm totally lost on what's going on, so let's leave!" Yuzu pouted, though she body language was tense.  _She's just scared. I can't blame her, either._ "Corvis? Do you think that you'll figure out more about your bloodline? I mean, the warlord part?" "I think so, just not now. If I was a Shôgun, then I'll need more powerful demons--demons I was most likely using--before I learn anything more."  "Yeah, that makes sense. Still, I never thought you'd come from a lineage like that."  _Neither did I._ ~~~~

* * *

**Ikebukuro, Sunset blvd., 12:30**

Yuzu let out a long breath. "This place is no good either. There were SDF guards all the way to Ikebukuro...I'm exhausted from all this walking...I can feel the sweat pooling in my shoes." Her face turned into slight disgust. "Better sweaty than dead." "What the...!? You don't have to say it like that!" "...Sorry. I'm getting a little nervous..." "It's okay. I'm sorry I snapped back. Let's decide what we're going to do from here." "Yeah, good idea." Shadow felt Yuzu tug on his sleeve. "Hey...Are we really trapped in the Yamanote circle area? Are we going to die just like that email said...?" Shadow shook his head. "No, we aren't. We'll try the east side." "Yeah...The west side might be sealed, but there's still the east. Let's keep at it!" Their COMPs beeped. "Incoming email...Let's have a look." They read Naoya's first.

_**I assume you're still alive?** _

_**The Death Clock calculated by the Laplace Mail system may not be absolute, but if the root cause of the events described doesn't change, it's highly likely that the results will still end up the same. ...That's fate.** _

_**I've updated your COMP with a new function attached to this message so that you can face fate and cut your own path.** _

_**You should be getting an email describing the "Skill Crack" function soon.** _

_**I'm looking forward to seeing you again. Keep surviving.** _

The second email's subject was Skill Cracks and it was from COMP.sys.

**_The Skill Crack is a function that analyzes an enemy's ability and saves it to your COMP._ **

**_[NOTES]_ **

**_The enemy selected by the crack much be defeated by the team with the COMP that set it. The crack will be nullified if any other team defeats that enemy._ **

**_Only a single enemy is targeted by the crack; not the entire enemy team._ **

**_The target of the crack and the COMP user who is targeting it can be viewed on the top screen._ **

Another sigh came from Tanikawa. "I really don't get what Naoya's up to. He got us into this mess, but he's still doing everything he can to help us..." "You got that right...If he cares that much, he shoulda made sure we weren't in the lockdown to begin with." "He's hiding something..." Corvis stated, a hand coming up to press a curled finger to his lips.  _He must have known something like this would happen and gave us the tools to survive. But...why?_ "Yeah, that's for sure." "Either he can't tell us or the time's not right yet. No way for us to know..." "Yeah..." Yuzu said, her voice not as cheerful as it normally is.

Atsuro was re-reading the second email. "Hey, those Skill things come in pretty handy, don't they? If that function can get us more of those, that'll be a huge help! It might even increase our chance of survival...!" "That Skill Crack thing? Only someone who knew about demons could program that in...I wonder just how much Naoya knows about demons." "Let's ask him ourselves." Gale said, a very small unease in his body.  _Naoya always had a strange little grin whenever he's caught me reading about mythology and rituals. He's always fed my curiosity of demons and the like for years; perhaps he knows even more about demons than we think._ "Yeah, I guess that'd be the best way, huh?" "Yeah...Let's find Naoya. We need to get information straight from the source." "Though we have to do something about the number on the death clock first..." "Yeah. We'll have to use every trick in the book to survive that long..."

"Well, maybe not your book entirely." Gale said and his friends looked at him, Atsuro's head cocked like a puppy's. "When I think back on all the battles we survived, outside of the very first time we encountered demons, you both let me do all of the planning. Every move was part of my strategy." "W-Well, yeah. I mean, we were both panicking at the time while you kept a cool-head. It made sense to let you do it." "I know, but remember what we learned only a little while ago. I am a decedent of a powerful warlord." Yuzu and Kihara sucked in a breath. "You mean...!?" "Exactly. I think subconsciously I know what to do in any combat situation because my mind and body remember. These situations are as familiar to me as a song I've listened to a thousand times; I don't even have to hear the drums to know what comes next." "So, if we let you assess the situation, then--" "I can make the best moves according to that plan and adjust as needed."

"...What's the plan right now?" Atsuro asked softly. "Head back to Shibuya and crack ever Skill we can. It'll give us a chance to strength our demons and get stronger ourselves." "...Alright. I'm in." "Me too." With the trio in agreement, they headed back to Shibuya to train up and gain every skill they could. Yuzu, after she cracked it, now had Zan Command as part of her list of Skills; she was also given the Passive Life Bonus Skill, since she did have the lowest health out of the three of them. Atsuro gained the Bufu Command Skill and Shadow activated the Hero Aid Passive Skill for him. Not that Atsuro couldn't have used it, it was just not the first Passive Skill he should have.  _Plus, I have a feeling that having him even more eager for a fight may not be the best idea right now._

After getting all of the skills available to them at the time, Corvis checked the auction and bought a Moh Shuvuu. Her message was:  _Our affairs are settled then. Shall I call you "Master," or by your real name?_ Corvis chuckled. "At least we have two back up demons now." "Will that help?" Yuzu asked as they walked through Aoyama, heading north. "Well, if our demons are knocked out, we take more damage; having replacements will help keep the damage levels down. Besides, the more demons we have, the better our odds of surviving anyway."

* * *

**Suidobashi, Tokyo Dome, Kourakuen, 13:00**

Yuzu's lips spread into a smile as they reached the Tokyo Dome. "Oh, the theme park...! This brings back memories. I used to come here with my family." She looked around and let out a soft breath. "No one's here...It's usually really crowded. Hey, Shadow, what's your favorite ride?" "The rollercoaster." "What...!? It's not scary for you? I always get this feeling I'm going to be thrown off..." "Kourakuen in Bunkyo-ku...It's famous for the theme park and baseball field. Anyways...Doesn't it feel a little cooler here?" "Yeah, now that you mention it. Is is air conditioned? Maybe it has its own generator..." "I guess, but why would they cool the outside air too? Seems weird..." "You got a point...But you won't hear me complain. At least it's cool here. Whew. Now that we beat the heat, I'm getting hungry..." "Oh yeah, it's already lunchtime." Atsuro said as he checked his watch. A chill, different than the one in the air, slid down Corvis's spine.  _Bunkyo-ku...That seems familiar somehow._ He let out a small breath from his mouth and saw that it was a white, puffy cloud. "...This is bad."

"What isn't--Oh, crap!" "Atsuro? What's wrong?" "This is the place the email mentioned...And now is about the right time." "Uh...What?" "Remember what the Laplace Mail said? Murder victims of an abominable snowman..." "Oh, on...Three victims...And the death clock says 0 for us three...!" "Hey, look!" Atsuro pointed toward the staircase they walked off of and Gale felt a powerful demon approaching. "Urgahhhh!" It was Wendigo. The same Wendigo from last night! "I've found you! You're all mine now!" "Is that...the snowman thing from yesterday!?" "It is." Corvis said as he kept his hues on the powerful demon, feeling the terror rolling off his comrades. "'Localized blizzard will occur'...This is it! The time and place match up! Damn it...! Look at us! We thought we could escape from our fate...but we ended up running right into it! We made that email a reality all by ourselves!"

Wendigo growled at them. "It's so hot here...But I'll kill you all anyway!" As the demon yelled that, more demons appeared, most likely following Wendigo. Atsuro and the rest glanced around, and he let out a scared noise. "Is this really where we die!? Is fate really unavoidable!?" "Remember what Naoya said!" Atsuro looked like he was just slapped. "What...Naoya said? You mean..." He sucked in a breath as he understood what Corvis was getting at. "...You're right. We'll shape our own destinies! We're going to defeat this guy!" "I always tried to make a big show of trying so hard...But all I did was run away..." Yuzu started, her eyes on the ground, arms almost limp at her side. "I ran away from things I could fail at, because I was afraid of looking bad if I did! But this time...if we fail, it's over, isn't it?" Gale offered her a sad smile. "Yeah. But knowing that, will you still fight, even though you might fail?" Shadow asked and he saw her resolve harden. "...I'll do it! I don't want to die, so I won't run away! So, please, guys! Stay alive!"

As the demons' information popped onto the top screen, Corvis opened up the Skill Crack option and set it so that all of them would be targeting Wendigo's Anti-Ice Skill. "You sure, Corvis?" "We'll come across that Ice Dance Skill again eventually; we might never see the Anti-Ice one again." "...Alright, I trust you." And so, they finally began to take on Wendigo. They lead Wendigo away from the other demons, killing two trios that were nearby, and then pinning it against the wall by surrounding it. It was Corvis would delivered the final blow. "Graaah!" It shouted as it became a solid form of ice and then shattering into a thousand little shards. "Alright! We survived!" "There are still demons left, though. We can't let our guard down just yet!"

Corvis's eyes landed on the nearby Pixie and saw her shudder. "Are you really...humans!? Wendigo was weakened, but you did defeat a strong foe!" Gale's lips spread into a cold smirk as he glared at the Pixie. "It's your turn next!" She was horrified. "I have no reason to put my life on the line here!" And then she vanished, leaving only the Kobold left, which was finished off quickly. "Whoooo! We did it! We really did it! We're still alive...!" "Yeah! We kicked that snowman's tail! We'll be okay now, right...?" "I mean, we were the ones mentioned in the email...But we cheated death!" As Atsuro spoke those words, a blue light filled the Death Clock and their number changed. "Hey, yeah! Quick, Shadow! What does the death clock say now?" "It's up to 2." He said with a smile. "2 days, huh...? At least we bought some more time. Let's use those 2 days to find a way out of the Yamanote circle!" "There's plenty of time." "Right! Two days should be all we need to find a way out!" "Yeah! We changed our fate, so finding a way out should be cake!"

The relief of avoiding their doom faded a little from Atsuro's face. "Oh, one thing, though...I forgot to tell you guys!""Wh-What...!? Quit scaring me like that!" "Sorry, but I only realized it a moment ago. We've got a problem..." "Wh-What do you mean, a problem...?" "We're forgetting something important. We absolutely need these COMPs to fight, right?" "Huh? Uh, yeah...?" "The COMPs run on rechargeable batteries. But there's a blackout right now..." _Crap._ "...We can't charge them." "Right. At this rate, it won't be long before our COMPs are out of juice." "What're we gonna do!? Hey, Shadow!" Yuzu was scared, but Shadow placed a calm hand on her shoulder. "Let's find a charger." "Why don't we try going to Akihabara? We can look for a hand-powered charger and a way out of the lockdown at the same time!" As they left, Shadow checked the auction again, but there was no new demons and they already had one of every kind they've encountered so far, aside from Wendigo.  _If you change fate, you change other events. That's what Naoya told me when I was little. If we can change our death clock, can we also change the death clocks of others like Haru? Can we completely prevent everything that happens in the Laplace Mails?_

* * *

**Akihabara, 13:30**

As they reached Akihabara, they noticed that the stations beneath the tracks are under heavy SDF guard; a sigh escaped Yuzu. "Looks like we can't get out this way either..." "Just like Shibuya and Shinjuku. Has the entire Yamanote line been locked down?" Atsuro glanced to Corvis has his hand touched his shoulder. "Let's find that charger." "Yeah. We've gotta at least find a charger, or we came all this way for nothing!" However, when they roamed Electric Town, they found that every store had been shuttered. "Damn...All the stores are closed! At least one's gotta be open somewhere...!" He glanced over Gale's shoulder, his eyes widening a little. "Wait a sec, is that...Keisuke!?" They rushed over to him, Keisuke clearly surprised. "A-Atsuro? Why are all of you here...?" "We came looking for something...Huh? What's that you've got there...?" Atsuro asked as he glanced at Keisuke's hands. "Hey, that's a hand-powered charger! The high-capacity version, too! Alright, out with it, Keisuke! Where can we get one!?" "...You're looking for one that's COMP-compatible, aren't you?" Kihara nodded. "Yep! We have to charge our COMPs, or we're sunk!" "I see...All right, I'll take you there. This way..."

He turned and the group followed him to a back-alley store where they all obtained a charger. "That's...what you needed, right?" A feeling crept over Corvis's skin and he realized that it was the same feeling he's always had around Yuzu and Kihara, who are his Kerai.  _Keisuke's one of my Kerai._ "Thanks!" Gale said with a warm grin. "It's not a problem. We have to help one another when we're in trouble." "We sure owe you for this! Thanks, Keisuke!" After a moment, Keisuke spoke up. "You people are amazing...I've never seen anyone like you." "Huh...?" "Your death clock...it used to say 0, but now it's 2. You changed your fate..."  _I knew it._ "You have a COMP..." Keisuke glanced at his feet for a moment. "Yes...I, too, have a COMP. It's most likely the same modded version as yours..." Yuzu sucked in a disgusted gasp. "The nerve of you, running away when you saw our death clocks!" "Yuzu! Cut it out...!" "No, it's all right, Atsuro. It's true...I ran away from you all..." Kihara was shocked. "Keisuke..." "By way of apology, I'll tell you this. Did you meet anyone of your way here...?" Atsuro jumped a little. "Huh? Well...Yeah, we ran into a couple of people..." "As of now, no one within the Yamanote circle has more than 6 days to live. At least no one that I've seen..."

"No one who'll live longer than 6 days...? What're you saying?" Atsuro asked, but Corvis understood what Keisuke was getting at. "Something happens then." "......! Wh-What does that mean? Like what, exactly!?" "I don't know for sure. All I can definitely say is this...Some kind of catastrophe will occur after 6 days. Everyone in the lockdown...will die." Keisuke said, his face grim. "I...I can't believe this...!" "Believe it or don't, but it's not a malfunction in the death clock. I know because almost none of the SDF guards have any death clock readings at all." "Are you serious? Th-That'd mean..." Atsuro looked like he was going to let the inside of his stomach meet concrete. "It's only in the circle?" Shadow asked. "It seems so. Whatever's coming in 6 days will only affect the Yamanote circle. Once it happens...We'll all be annihilated. ...Now do you understand? I'm sorry...I have to go." As Keisuke turned to leave, Corvis's voice made him pause. "Why did you tell us?" He sighed deeply. "I don't know...I thought that since you three were able to change your own fate...I thought you might be able to avert whatever catastrophe is coming in 6 days, too...Even if we survive the next 2 days, we'll all die if the coming disaster isn't stopped. And if we can't...the only way to survive will be to get outside the Yamanote circle." "H-Hey...! Keisuke!" Atsuro called, but his friend didn't stop. "He's gone...I feel kind of bad for making him say all that..." Tanikawa softly spoke, but Kihara just shook his head. "Nah...That's how he is. Something happened to change him, but he's still looking out for the little guy." "Yeah...Although...I wonder if what he said was true..." "How everyone has 6 days left? Given the situation, it's hard to dismiss it out of hand..."

"But...What could happen that would kill everyone inside the Yamanote circle?" "I dunno...But it sounds like we'd better keep that in mind, too." "Yeah...If we do find a way out, let's not keep it to ourselves, okay?" Their COMPs beeped. "Another email? What now..." It was a single email.

_**The program Cath.exe has been downloaded to your COMP.** _

_**The Cathedral of Shadows is an organization that has existed for many years for the purpose of fusing demons together on order to create new demons. This program allows you to remotely access the Cathedral of Shadows network and fuse the demons currently registered to your COMP. Use this to create more powerful demons.** _

_**[NOTES]** _

_**Two demons are fused to create a new demon.** _

_**Pre-fusion skills can be carried over.** _

_**Defined rules determine which skills are carried over through fusion.** _

_**Powerful demons no available through the Devil Auction can be created with fusion.** _

"Firs the auction, and now 'fusion'? What's this about changing to another demon?" "I don't get this! Everything that seemed like common sense is falling apart! Looks like the ordinary rules just don't apply when it comes to demons..." "But without their powers, we'd have gotten iced by that snowman." "Sure, but it's the same demons that might kill us, right? I'm really not sure how I feel about that! Is Naoya just toying with us?" Corvis shook his head. "I highly doubt it."  _This Cathedral of Shadows sounds familiar to me. Must have been something my ancestor used._ "Yeah, me too. He's been teaching us these things to help us survive...He probably cooked up this fusion function because he was worried about us." "'You have to create strong demons, or you won't be able to stay alive!'...That's what he means, right?" "You're asking the wrong guy. But still, this is good for us, isn't it?" Yuzu sighed, light defeat in it. "We'll have to work on mastering our COMPs, huh...?" "If we can't get out, yeah."  _Or, maybe just you and Atsuro. I've got a feeling that I've got my COMP mastered already._ "Yikes. I'm really not up for that. Let's work even harder to find a way out!"

Kihara gently tugged on his sleeve after they had charged their COMPs. "Do you think that we should head back to Shinjuku? I think that their might be some demons left." Corvis smiled. "Let me mess around with the fusion app for a little bit and see what demons I can make right now." He nodded, offering the other his hand. "I'll make sure that you won't walk into anything." The duo shared a smile as Shadow took Kihara's hand; Yuzu had skipped a few paces ahead of them, seeming to be a little more at ease with the idea of actively seeking out demons.

Opening the fusion app, he found that there was two options: fusion and search. Gale guessed that the fusion option was just doing it blindly; search was more refined. And as he went to the search, he found out that he was right. There was four filters that were available, but only three were active. Race and Owned were skipped as he was more interesting in the known part of the filters. He changed it from none to unconfirmed and then selected search. To his surprise, two pages of demons popped up, some highlighted, some grayed out. Shadow's blue eyes were drawn by some kind of gravity to Jambavan, a member of the Genma race. He selected it and then the first option, which was a fusion of Moh Shuvuu and Kabuso. He added in both of their skills that he could and then confirmed the fusion.

Moh Shuvuu's message was displayed first.  _"Will the new one be worthy of me? I'll let you choose, but make me beautiful and noble."_ Then Kabuso's.  _"Ohh! I've never been fused before. Hot dang, I'm excited! Maybe I'll become a city boy!"_ And after that they were fused together and Jambavan appeared.  _"I am Genma, Jambavan. If you, my creator, wish for power...I will go with you."_ The second one he made was the fusion of Pixie and Kobold into the beast, Hairy Jack. Pixie spoke first.  _"Huh? Are you trying to make me even sexier? Ohh, you're such a pervert!"_ Despite her words, he heard her giggle.  _"ME GATTAI. YOU USE ME AGAIN? THEN ME GO GATTAI!"_ Kobold said, his voice a mix of happiness and sadness. They vanished in the fusion and Hairy Jack appeared. " _Woof! I'm Hairy Jack, the Beast. My fangs make the poison flow."_ He looked at the other options, but they required having to use the newest demons and Shadow didn't want to do that. He assigned Hairy Jack to Yuzu after giving her his Kobold and had Jambavan on his team.

Gale then went into the auction and bought more demons. The first was another Kabuso.  _"Ooh, thank ya kindly! Hehehe, now I can pay my ma back!"_ Then he got another Moh Shuvuu. They finally reached Shinjuku again and fought every demon they saw. "Did anything change with the auction?" Corvis shook his head. "It seems that it takes a half hour before it changes." "Oh...Well, I guess we've just gotta wander around then." "Let's head to Ikebukuro." "Why?" Yuzu asked. "Just a feeling..." A small knowing smirk was across his lips.

* * *

**Ikebukuro, 14:00**

As they reached Ikebukuro, wandering about for a little bit, the group encounters a strangely-dressed girl on the way to Ikebukuro Station. "Awww...How am I supposed to get back home nowww!?" She complained, cheeks puffed out. Atsuro tugged on Shadow's sleeve, hushing into his ear, "Whoa! Check out the outfit on her! Is she cosplaying as something...!?" Corvis shrugged at his friend, unsure if she was or not, but then she turned around. "Heeeey...You were staring at me just now, weren't you?" Atsuro's face turned a little pink, though his expression was slightly terrified. "Oops!" Corvis just chuckled at his friend. "Sorry if we spooked you." He said to the girl, who smiled brightly. "Oh, you like my costume? I'm cosplaying to show it off, so stare alllll you want! But the truth us, I'm wearing it 'cause I had an event to go to yesterday." Kihara lightly laughed and smiled. "Even so...Didn't you bring any clothes to change into afterwards?" "That's just 'cause I didn't think I'd get stuck here like this! Besides, I didn't REALLY go all out. It just looks like extra-cool everyday clothes!"

Boy she was a bit of a trip. Corvis, however, felt that familiar sensation that washed over him with Keisuke.  _She's one of my Kerai._ So now it was up to four. Who else could have been at his ancestor's side? "Uh...Haha...I guess." "ANYways, do you know how to get home from here? I walked all the way from Shinjuku...You guys haven't found a way out yet, have you?" Gale shook his head. "We're looking for one." The girl pouted. "Oh...Okey-doke...Ohhh well. If you happen to find a way out, let me know! I'm Midori Komaki. Nice to meet you!" After introducing herself, Midori runs off; well, skips off, actually.

Atsuro sighed like he was in love. "Man, that was some girl..." "What, you didn't realize...? I thought you of all people would figure it out, Atsuro." Yuzu said, her voice teasing. Corvis had been holding in his laughter the entire time; he knows exactly who Midori really was, but now he was waiting to see what his best friend's reaction would be once he finds out. "Hey, what's with the sarcasm?" "Wasn't she that famous cosplayer? I think her name is Dolly or something...I heard she's popular even among girls, 'cause she's not all stuck up." Kihara lost his jaw. "No way! R-Really? That girl was Dolly!? That went right over my head...! Damn, I should've asked for an autograph!" His excited shock deflated rather quickly into depression and Corvis was barely holding his laughter in. "Ugh...I knew mentioning it around Otakuro would be a bad idea..." "Otakuro!? What's with that all of a sudden...? What's wrong with being an otaku!?" At that point Corvis just lost it and fell to the ground, laughing so hard he thought he might burst a lung. "W-What? What's so funny!?" "I can't believe you didn't recognized her! You're constantly on her forum." "Wait...You knew that she was here!?" Since he was sucking in air so he could try to calm down, Corvis nodded his head. "I knew you liked her, and there was some Cons and events coming up that I thought she might show at; found out about the one in Shinjuku and I was hoping to take you there after we met up with Naoya."

Atsuro blushed a little at the comment. "Well...Thanks for thinking of me." Yuzu perked a bit. "Oh yeah! Has the auction list changed? You said it seemed to take a half hour for it to change." Opening up the application, a small smirk rose on his lips. "Yep. It changed." "Which ones are you gonna get now?" "I need to see which demons can be fused to create new ones; I want to make our own demons as powerful as I can get them, and I want to make sure that any replacements we need are just as strong." "That makes sense. Can't defend ourselves if our demons are too weak." "Well, even then, Atsuro, we can always train them up against other demons we come across." "Ah, true." As he exited out of the Auction and went to the Fusion app, setting the search to unconfirmed, he realized that there was another demon they would get by fusing Kabuso and Bilwis together.  _"Keke! Ya want more power? Aight, use me! But that don't mean I'm done reapin'!"_ Corvis smiled at the Bilwis's words moments before the duo were fused together.  _"I'm the Fairy, Kijimunaa! Ya want my power, right? Well, come on! Let's go!"_ Kijimunaa's voice was high and a little squeaky, but it was male as far as Corvis could tell.

Seeing what demons were needed to create a Femme demon known as Kikimora, Gale went back into the Auction and bought another Kabuso and Pixie. He fused them together and was greeted by Kikimora's sweet voice; almost the type you'd hear from a grandmother.  _"I'm Kikimora the Femme. If you get hurt, I'll be there for you. Remember me, 'kay?"_ "Is that it?" Atsuro asked, having been watching Corvis quickly pick and fuse demons together. "For now. We don't have enough Macca to buy another Ogre and I'd rather not try to bid for it." "Wait...I'm getting Kikimora?" "Bilwis was on your team, so you have an empty slot. Besides, you'll need a healer if you have Waira on your team if you want to use his ability." Kihara smiled as he took Corvis's hand, Yuzu latching onto his other arm.  _This is starting to become a thing for us, isn't it?_ Not that he can really blame them; when faced with such an unknown, you cling to what's familiar, what you know is safe.

* * *

**Roppongi, 14:30**

As they continued to roam, they found themselves in Roppongi again. Yuzu let out a sigh. "I wanna listen to Haru sing again..." Corvis smiled down at her, since her head was resting on his shoulder. He glanced up as he picked up the sound of voices further ahead.  _Did my ancestor have these abilities too?_ There was so much he didn't know. The voices came again and Gale noticed that one was Haru's. "Wish granted." Corvis said as they turned a corner and found Haru along with a face Corvis didn't know, but knew he was apart of the Shomonkai. "Are you sure? If you put your trust in Shomonkai, everything will be taken care of..." "Learn when to quit already. I'm telling you, I'll be fine. Are those ears for show...?" Haru spoke, irritation clear in her voice.  _Nice burn._ That same feeling as before washed over Corvis.  _Her too. I wonder why I would have her as one of my Kerai?_ "...I see. Well, I'll leave you be for today. But should you happen to run into trouble, don't hesitate to rely on us. My name is Azuma. It's been a pleasure meeting you." He said before taking his leave. Haru scoffed at his retreating form. "Who the hell's rely on you...?"

A moment passed before Haru glanced up, noticing the group. "Hmm? You're the kids who came to my street show this morning..." "Whoa! Do you remember every fan who comes to see you?" Yuzu asked, clearly star-struck. "Haha, nah, just a coincidence. Though, I've seen you in the crowd pretty often, huh? I usually see you cheering by yourself, but you had a couple others with you today. But one of them didn't seem too into my songs...Hahaha!" Her eyes landed on Corvis and Yuzu became the half-rabid fangirl he's seen her become before. "Oh, come on, Shadow! It's not everyday you get to hear Haru perform live!" Corvis put his hands up to try and shield himself from Yuzu's fury. It's not his fault that he wears the same face whether he enjoys a song or not! It's just how he is when he's listening to music! "It's okay. Everyone had their own tastes, right...?" Smiling at her words only for a moment, Corvis stared right into Haru's eyes and saw something he wasn't quite sure he should being up in front of Yuzu. "Who was that man?" He asked instead. "Who, him? Whatever...He came by and said, 'We'll help you if you're ever in trouble.' If he wants to help, he'll do something about this blackout. I can't write this like..." "Ahaha...I'm looking forward to hearing what you come up with!"

The group talked with Haru for a few minutes more before heading separate ways. "Let's head back to Shinjuku." "Can you sense demons from here?" "I can. We had to be much closer before, but now I can sense them from a huge distance." Yuzu and Kihara looked a little concerned. "Should your abilities be developing this quickly?" Atsuro asked, but Shadow knew what he really meant. "You mean, is something more dangerous than we ever could imagine coming? Judging from how fast these powers are, I'm gonna say yes. And I don't think it's something we're gonna be able to run from." His friends deflated a bit. "Hey, we'll make it." "How can you be so sure?" "Something in my mind tells me that we'll be fine. If something like this happened in the Warring era of Japan, then my ancestor survived. If I just got with my instincts, we should be able to make it out okay." His words seemed to calm the duo. "That does make sense, but who's the 'we' in this situation?" "Us and Gin and Kaido and everyone else. Maybe Naoya knew about my bloodline and that's the reason he gave us the altered COMPs. Maybe he knows, like Keisuke believes, that we can change the fate of the Yamanote Circle." "Or maybe that you can." Atsuro said, some spine coming back into his voice. "If we were your Kerai, then you had to be strong; powerful." Yuzu seemed to have latched onto the resolve Kihara was showing. "If anyone can defy fate, it's you."

Corvis smiled. "...Thanks, guys." Having reassured them, the group headed to Shinjuku and gained a new Skill along with some Macca. Having enough Macca to buy an Ogre, Corvis did so and fused it with the Moh Shuvuu they had.  _"Will the new one be worthy of me? I'll let you choose, but make me beautiful and noble."_ Moh Shuvuu spoke before Ogre did.  _"ME...COMBINE!? THEN MAKE ME CRAZY! ME WANT CRAZY MUSCLES!"_ Did Ogres only have muscle for their brain? After the fusion, an off-key female voice sounded.  _"I'm the Avatar, Heqet. Be it injury, sickness, or curse, I will cure them for you."_ Corvis grinned at her words.  _If I remember correctly, Heqet was the name of an Egyptian goddess._ Certainly, she doesn't look like one, but she'll be of use none-the-less.

* * *

**Shiba Park, 15:00**

Corvis and the others found themselves in Shiba Park and saw there was a mob of people. "These guys can't go home either, huh? But it looks like Shiba Park is one of the bigger refugee shelters around...There sure are a lot of people here."  _I hope that lessens if this lockdown goes on._ "It's placed well for it. Shiba Park was built to completely surround Zojoji...The park has schools, hotels, and even libraries, so it's a natural gathering place." "I see. And since it's next to Tokyo Tower, I guess it's easy to find. Look at all those people..." There was whole groups in pockets on the sidewalk, on the grass, everywhere. "There's nothing any one person can do, so they just hope for the lockdown to lift. Guess we're not the only ones having a hard time of things..." "Yeah...I hope we can all get out of the Yamanote Circle soon."

Gale glanced around, trying to map out escape routes should the worst come to pass here when he noticed that the Shomonkai 'cultists', as he heard many people call them, were making a speech before the masses gathered. "Do you all know the story of the Tower of Babel? Man once attempted to create a gargantuan tower in order to become closer to God...Their arrogance was punished with an ordeal by which their language was divided. But, through knowledge and technology, man has overcome these linguistic barriers. The Internet we have today is the embodiment of this triumph! But now...Man has once again become arrogant, and God has sent us another ordeal! To withstand with ordeal, man must join hands with one another and stand united! I implore you all...Stand with the Shomonkai and withstand God's ordeal!" Corvis felt as Atsuro tapped his shoulder. "That's the Shomonkai founder making a speech over there. Cross-cultural communication is proof we've overcome the Tower of Babel, huh...? But another ordeal's coming down the pike? It wasn't those demons in Aoyama, was it...?" Shadow didn't turn to his friend as he said, "It might have been."  _This founder of the Shomonkai isn't wrong, but something about him gives me a bad vibe._ "You think so too? I mean, the timing was just too perfect...Hm? Look...That girl..." Atsuro pressed himself against Corvis's back as he pointed to a face they've seen before. She was going around talking to some of the refugees. "This misfortune had struck all the people equally. Everyone here is undergoing hardship. Let us stay calm and wait. Give generously of your effort and assistance..." Amane spoke, her words seeming to relax those who oozed tension.

"That's the girl from last night! She seemed weird then, but she's kinda cute, huh?" Gale shrugged. "Not THAT cute..." "Whoa, you had me fooled...I could've sworn she was your type!"  _That's only because you don't know my actual type._ Yuzu, who hadn't be able to hear them, spoke up. "C'mon, you guys...what's all the whispering about? You two are such goons..." Shadow had seen several members of the Shomonkai roam among the people, helping however they can, and one of them seemed to notice his group and she walked over. "Hello. I'm with the order known as the Shomonkai. Can you spare me a moment? As you know, advances in technology have created new forms of mass communication. As these forms take hold, it is vital that we not lose sight of human contact. We of the Shomonkai aim to reaffirm the miracle of human contact in the modern day." Corvis offered her a warm smile. "That's a noble goal." "How good that you agree! Come forth and hear our Founder's words, I insist!"  _Oh, here we go._ Just as she begins her spiel, a familiar voice interrupts the conversation. "You mustn't be too forceful with your invitations." "Oh! Lady Amane...!" The member stated, seeming to be very embarrassed to have Amane correct her, and bowed before leaving; Amane stayed and turned to the group.

"We met yesterday. Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Amane Kuzuryu, a maiden of the Shomonkai." She said as she bowed. Gale sensed that she too was one of his Kerai and this time he knew why. "Did you say maiden?" "Yes...As a maiden, I am she through whom divine voices both good and evil speak. Man had, of old, distinguished between supportive gods and rapacious demons...However, the distinction is academic, At root, gods and demons are both otherworldly."  _Yes, that's what I've always thought to. And since she is a maiden, her ancestor most likely was to. I must have used her to contact powerful demons or even convey messages to them through her. Perhaps it was her ancestor that taught mine to hear the voices of demons._ "You can hear their voices...Behold their presences...Can't you?" "I do sense them..." Corvis admitted. "Just as I'd expect from one who has mastered a COMP. You can feel them...I have a question for you three. Where did you acquire those COMPs?" Shadow could see that she desperately wanted to know, so he told her. "From Naoya." "Naoya? He gave these to you? I see...I had thought that may have been the case. It was we in the Shomonkai who requested that he create that program...In any event, I believe we will see one another again. If you'll excuse me, Corvis Gale...Farewell for now." Amane bowed and went to tend to the people in the area.

"You hear that, Shadow?" He nodded. "The Shomonkai hired Naoya." "Yep. Question is, why would they commission something like that? Why would the Shomonkai want a demon-summoning device?" "To summon a god."  _If they have maiden, then it would make sense. A demon or a god, either being is not from this world._ "They want to use a demon-summoning program to summon...a god? It might make sense if that girl's right, and demons and gods aren't that different..." "But once they summon a god...What then?" "Huh...? How should I know?" Atsuro groaned as he let his head fall back. "Come on, let's keep looking for away out." "Yeah..." Yuzu said, her mood dimmed.  _It's not like we have much choice anyway. Until certain events happen, or certain conditions are met, there's not much we can do._

* * *

**Ueno, 15:30**

As they wandered around, they reached Ueno. But Ueno Station was a bust. "This place is out, too..." "It's so hot! My feet are killing me!" Yuzu complained. "Hmm, yeah...Getting around's pretty tough now that all the transportation is dead..." Atsuro said, sweat slowly dripping down his face. "I want air conditioning! When's the electricity gonna come back ooooooon!? And I'm hungry! Atsuro, go buy me something! I can't walk another step!" Good god, Yuzu can bitch. Atsuro laughed though. "Sheez, you're selfish! What do you want?" "I don't care. We passed a convenience store earlier. Just get me something!" "Ugh...Fine, all right...I'll be right back." Atsuro said softly as he turned and went back the way they came.

Fifteen minutes later, Atsuro came back. "That was close...They almost shut their doors because there was no way to restock..." Whaaa!? Then..." Atsuro smiled. "Take it easy. I was able to get some bread that was still there." "Wow! Thanks, Atsuro!" His lips were still parted in a grin had he gave her a Anpan; he also had one himself and he gave Corvis a Melon-Pan, since he knew it was his favorite kind of sweet bread. "But...This is more serious than I thought. Tokyo really is reliant on other cities. We'll be fine as long as the park still has water, but if that stops...We're in trouble." Atsuro somberly said as they ate. And he wasn't wrong.  _This lockdown, based on everything that's happened so far, will likely last about a week. There's only six days left until something horrible is suppose to happen and everyone inside the Yamanote Circle dies...Can peoples' sanity hold out that long? Or will we be eventually forced to kill humans along with demons in order to survive?_ Either way, the situation doesn't look good.

* * *

**Shinagawa, 16:00**

In their roaming of every place they could think of to try to get pass the lockdown, they found themselves in Shinagawa. However, the area near Shinaga Station was blocked off. "No use over here, either..." "...I'm thirsty. Could we stop somewhere for some water?" Yuzu said, her skin coated with sweat. "Let's see if there's a park nearby. Wouldn't want to end up with heatstroke...Man, I'm really tired from all this walking." Yuzu moaned softly. "Even if there's a blackout, why can't the buses and taxis be running?" "Uh...Because the roads are full of accidents and debris?" Kihara said, sarcasm slightly in his voice. "Ugh! Stupid lockdown!" Corvis lightly giggled at Yuzu's complaining.

"How are you not tired?" "I'm not sure." Corvis said, slightly confused himself; he's been walking just as much as his companions, yet he was hardly sweating. "Come on, there's a shady spot over here." He pointed to the area and the other two quickly rushed to it. Kihara and Yuzu both let out a moan of relief as they were finally out of the sun; Corvis glanced around and noticed that they actually weren't too far from a park. Atsuro glanced up to his friend in slight confusion when he reached for his bag, but understood what he wanted and handed it over. "I'll be right back. You two rest up." Gale spoke as he turned and started toward the park. Once there, he saw that there were some people there, but not many. He found one of the relief works and asked for three bottles of water; thankfully, they could spare that many.

Yuzu glanced up when she heard someone jogging toward them and smiled when she saw it was Shadow. "Here. One for each of you." Kihara and Tanikawa took the water handed to them, but both looked concerned for their friend. "Did you not get one?" He shook his head. "I did, but I'm not thirsty. Besides, this way, we'll have an extra in case we lose one." Yuzu looked stunned. "I'm surprised you even thought about that." "Yeah. I mean, the thought would have crossed my mind, but most likely when we're so close to actually needing it." Corvis sat down himself, keeping an eye and ear on their surroundings. "I've always been good at making choices on what I should ration and what I could use immediately. Even Naoya was shocked at how long I lasted playing games with so little supplies." "Sounds like that's coming into full use now, huh?" Corvis and the others shared a sad smile before they continued their search for an escape. On the way, the found some more demons and fought them, gaining the Mana Bonus Skill, which Corvis gave to Atsuro.

* * *

**Tokyo, 16:30**

After the fight with the stray demons, the group wandered into Tokyo. They tired the area near Tokyo Station, only to have the way blocked again. "Damn it, the east side's completely blockaded, too!" "We really are trapped in the Yamanote circle...What are we supposed to do?" Corvis rested his hand on Yuzu's head, let her eyes lock with his. "We'll find a way out." "Yeah, there must be a way out somewhere. Let's not give up, and keep looking. It'll be tough if it's just us, but I'm sure we can share info with others to help..." "...Yeah, you're right."

A cold heat ran down Corvis's spine and he knew something bad was going to happen to one of his Kerai, but which one?  _...Couldn't be Keisuke, he's too careful right now. Amane can take care of herself. Midori doesn't even have a COMP. Which leaves..._ Yuzu won't like it if that happened. "Atsuro, I'm gonna borrow Waira for a bit." "Okay...But why?" "I've just got a bad feeling..." Corvis spoke as he went into the Teams and swapped Ogre and Waira around.

* * *

**Kudanshita, Bugeikan, 17:00**

Following the sensation that came with one of his Kerai becoming endangered, Gale lead the others to Kudanshita. "What's wrong, Shadow? Is something going on over at Bugeikan?" "I thought I heard something too...Is that...singing?" Atsuro asked as he picked up on what Corvis had been hearing ever since they got within 5 miles of the area. Yuzu listened as well and she giggled softly. "Hey...That's one of Haru's songs! Let's go check it out!" They agreed and rushed into the area.

Haru was facing a building, her back facing the area behind her. "Aya..." The name softly left her lips, sorrow in his voice. Suddenly demons spawned. "Aaaah! Haru...!" Yuzu cried, her hands flying to the sides of her head in panic. At the other's call, Haru snapped around, sucking in a breath; she hurried up the stairs she had been standing on, her back almost pressed against the glass doors. "It's too dangerous! Run!" "Yeah! Come over here!" "What are you saying!? That would be even more dangerous!" "Look how many demons are surrounding her! It's better if she comes to us!" As Yuzu and Atsuro bickered, Corvis heard Haru's voice. "Oops, I guess I screwed up...Haha..."

Kihara saw the smile on her lips and was confused. "She doesn't look very worried...What's her deal?" "Hey, stupid, stop mumbling to yourself and help us save her!" "O-Oh, right!" "Run, Haru! It's dangerous! We'll take care of them!" Haru shook her head. "No, it's all right...I can protect myself..." She pulled something out of the bag she had with her and tried to press a button. "...Hmmm?" She tried again, but whatever she was expecting to happen, didn't. "I guess it's out of batteries...Haha...Uh oh...This could be bad, Aya..." "Hurry, Haru!" Yuzu urged, but both Corvis and Atsuro saw that she wasn't moving. "Why isn't she running!?...Damn it! We're gonna have to go to her!" "Let's go!"

After Corvis got the group positioned, he heard a laugh come from the Bilwis. "I've found you..." Haru turned to it in surprise, clearly not expecting a demon to address her. "Relinquish your power to my master..." "My...power?" Still confused, Haru let out a light sigh. "Wherever I go, it's demons...Why can't they just leave me alone...?" Yuzu tugged on Shadow's sleeve, making him turn toward her. "How are we gonna do this?" "You two will split up and take out the demons furthest from Haru; I'll use Waira's skill to get as close to Haru as I can and try to draw the demons away from her." He clasped his hand on top of her's. "She may get hurt, Yuzu. But I promise she'll live." Through not completely happy with his words, Yuzu nodded as she relaxed a little. A group of Waira swarmed up to Haru, taking her by surprise. "...Huh!?" "Aaaahh! Haru!" Yuzu cried out moments before Haru was attacked. "Dammit! That hurt, you piece of--" She cut herself off, glancing at her body in confusion. "Huh? I'm not...dead..." Atsuro was just as surprised as Haru. "Wh-Why? Why is she still alive...? ...I get it! It must be the Harmonizer! So the Harmonizer affects not just the COMPs owner, but everyone in its range!"

Kihara spoke and Corvis thought about it more.  _If the Harmonizer makes it so humans who aren't contracted with demons can survive...Then if a situation should arise where there's more than one person in danger, it would affect them as well, making it not only easier for them to escape, but harder for the demons to kill them. Though, without a way to fight back, I don't think it would matter much._ It was still good news. Corvis used Waira's skill again and was almost next to Haru, attacking the group of demons in front of her. He managed to kill all but one. He glanced up to Haru. "Are you alright?" She nodded slightly. "You guys...You should leave me here and run away." Corvis scoffed. "We won't leave you!" He said sternly. Haru scoffed herself, though there was a small relief in her body. "...Um, thanks. But don't kill yourselves in the process, okay?" Haru spoke as she moved to stand behind him. Shadow laughed softly. "We aren't so easy to kill."

Not long after, all the demons in the area were killed. A feeling of relief came over Corvis as he glanced at Haru's death clock.  _It increased..._ Gale hid his smile as Yuzu ran up to the duo. "Haru! Are you all right?" "Yeah...Thanks to you guys. So you can summon demons, too?" "U-Um, yeah...But that's not as surprising as seeing you here! You were surrounded by all those demons and never so much as screamed..." The singer shrugged. "I'd have been fine by myself if my sequencer hadn't run out of batteries." Corvis raised a brow. "What's a sequencer?" Haru smiled softly to him. "A sequencer's a device that plays back instrumental data. It's like a composition tool. You guys are demons tamers, but not like me...You use a different method. I summon my demons by singing in sync with the sequencer." Yuzu looked rather stunned by her idol's words. "Huh...? You can summon demons too, Haru!?" "So that's why you took out that sequencer a second ago...Did Naoya make your sequencer too, then?" Haru furrowed her eyebrows together. "Naoya? Who? No, I borrowed this from someone over six months ago." That caught Corvis's attention. "'Someone'?" "Yeah. Aya, the old leader of D-Va, lent it to me...The batteries are dead, so for now it's just a useless hunk of junk. But I still like to have it close by..." Corvis grinned warmly to her. "Let's get it working." Haru let her shoulders drop a little. "Well, I'd like to, but they're all sold out of that kind at the convenience stores." An idea come to Kihara.

"Oh...C-Can I have a look at the sequencer's terminal?" "Hm? Uh, sure...?" Haru turned it in her hands so Atsuro could look at the port. "Damn...It's no good. I thought we might've been able to use the hand charger to juice it back up." "Well, thanks anyway...Were you worried about me? Don't worry. Even if it's not working, this is still like a security blanket for me..." Atsuro tilted his head. "A security blanket...?" Haru smiled. "Haha! Don't overthink it." "Oh...Okay...So you firs summoned a demon over six months ago? Man, you're way ahead of us!" "No, the first time it happened was about a month and a half back." "Still, that's more experience than ours! We just started yesterday!" "Yesterday? You've come a long way in two days, then...Amazing. That remind me...Hey. You there." Haru motioned for Corvis to come over to her. She leaned in a little and took in a breath. "Yeah...I thought so. You got this dangerous smell to you." She chuckled. "But I kind of like that about you." Haru says all of that in a low voice so the others didn't hear. "Well, thanks again. I'm gonna get going, but I hope we run into each other again." She turned and walked away.

"Of all people...Who's have thought she could summon demons, too? I guess demons have been around Tokyo way before we knew about them." "Yeah...looks like. The guys in Shomonkai seem to have been using demons from way back." Yuzu's whole body jerked like she had been shocked. "Wait, Shadow! Did you check Haru's death clock!? It said 0 last time, right?" "It's up to 2 now." "Woo-ha! We really did it! We saved Haru's life!" "Aha! That proves we can change other people's death clocks too! Isn't that great?" "Of course it is! Right, Shadow?" He smirked. "Damn straight." "Yeah...So now that we know we can increase the time on the death clock for others...Let's keep at it and do the same for everyone trapped in the Yamanote circle! But I wonder how Haru summons demons using that sequencer instead of a COMP...What's the underlying mechanism there? What do COMPs and the sequencer have in common that lets them summon demons...?" Gale shook his head and laughed.  _He's at it again._ Puzzles like this always took Atsuro's attention quickly. "There you go, overthinking things again! Who cares about that right now? We just saved Haru's life! That's good enough for me! Even so...I'm a little worried that she didn't seem too thrilled about it. I hope it's just part of that cool, disaffected rock star attitude they all have..." "It's still odd..." "...Yeah."

As they began to walk away from the area, Yuzu tugged on Corvis's arm. "By the way, Shadow...What did Haru say to you?" "Well, she told me that I have a dangerous smell." "A dangerous smell...? You? Ohh, reaaallllly now...?" "Do you think I'm lying?" Yuzu shrugged. "Maybe." "You worried that I might get swept up by Haru?" Yuzu's face turned bright red. "Oh! Yuzu's really got it bad!" "Atsuro!" She started to chase him down, but Corvis pulled them apart. "Well, you don't have to worry, Yuzu. I'm not going to." "Y-You mean...?" Corvis let out sigh. "Maybe I should tell you guys the truth." "Huh? The truth?" Yuzu asked and Atsuro mimicked her loss. He faced them both and took a breath, readying himself for their reactions. "I...don't like women." "You don't like women?" "As in, I'm not sexually attracted to them." He flatly stated. Silence. "...Oh." Yuzu deflated, Kihara just stared. "Now," Gale went on, catching both of their attention, "that doesn't mean I don't care about a woman's feelings. I'm sorry to have led you to believe that you and I might get together, Yuzu, but unfortunately, that's just not going to happen. And Kihara, I do have a type, and you aren't that. I still love both of you as my friends, but there's no chance of either one of you getting with me." Another pause and finally his two closest friends smiled. "Okay. I understand." "So that's why you said that Amane wasn't that cute." "Wait, what?! That's you two were talking about at Shiba Park?" Corvis just shrugged. "More or less."

"...Wait, you said I wasn't your type. Who is?" Shadow blushed and glanced to a nearby tree. "...Gin and Kaido..." He glanced back and saw that they both were very stunned by that; Yuzu was blushing herself, her hands covering most of her face while Atsuro forgot how to close his mouth. "Are you serious?" "Very!" He retorted sharply to the question. "Wow...This is the only time I've seen you lose your composure." "Me too, and we grew up together." Corvis was still flustered, but he grinned. "Maybe having the blood of a warlord has more of a hold on my behavior than you think." "...Aren't those two your Daimyôs?" "They are. Could my ancestor have fell in love with them back then?" "It's a possibility, and if he did then it explains why you kept the fact that your gay a secret for so long; if that got out back then, your ancestor would've been killed."  _Well, this keeps getting more fun by the second, doesn't it?_ And speaking of one of his Daimyôs...

* * *

**Shinagawa, Shomonkai HQ, 17:30**

Corvis wasn't too surprised anymore with the abilities he's been gaining. He could now sense where his Daimyôs were and he felt drawn to one of them. Turned out to be Gin. He was in a residential area a short distance from Shinagawa Station, alone. It took Corvis a moment to realize that he was standing before the Shomonkai facility. The group came up behind Gin and he sharply turned, an expression like he was ready to fight on his face before it turned into a smile as relief came into his eyes. "Hm...!? Oh, it's you kids. Don't scare me like that..." "What are you doing here?" Corvis asked. "Why am I here? Oh, no real reason...Just taking a walk." Gin left, but Gale knew that was a very different reason why the other man was there. "Judging by the look on his face, he had to be here for a reason. Why here, though...?" Yuzu wondered herself, and Corvis had a gut feeling it had something to do with this 'Aya' woman.  _If Haru knows her, than Gin does to. Did the Shomonkai do something to her?_

* * *

**Shinjuku, 18:00**

"Urrrgh...I'm going through withdrawal..." "Atsuro? You sound like you're about to keel over...What's wrong?" Yuzu asked, her tone full of concern. "It's...Internet withdrawal...A really bad case...I haven't logged on in days...!" "What!? How can you even think about that now!? Ugh, you're such a shut-in!" "Laugh all you want..." Atsuro said with a deep sigh. "Sheez...Speaking of the net, a girl in the class next to ours had her bike stolen. She made a pissed-off post about it on her blog, asking her readers for info...And what do you know, some guy out there had seen the bike abandoned on the street! Pretty amazing, huh? Even a stranger might be a friend on the Internet!" Corvis smiled. "That was clever of her." "Totally. It's not bad knowing you have a network of people out there waiting to help." "A bike, huh...? I could use a bike right now. We could just 'borrow' one here..." "Uh, think again, Atsuwrong!" "Awwww..." Atsuro pouted. Shadow could tell that, even though it was wrong, the idea of stealing a bike so they didn't have to walk soundly slightly appealing to Yuzu.  _All this walking is really getting to them._ Corvis glanced up at the sky and exhaled.  _Only a couple hours of daylight left._

* * *

**Aoyama, Cemetery, 18:30**

As Corvis let the group wander, he himself switching Waira and Ogre back, they found themselves back in Aoyama Cemetery. "Hey...Something's funny here." "Yeah...I can sense a bunch of 'em nearby." "Demons, huh? What should we do...?"  _Too late. We're surrounded. But why does it feel like some kind of gate has opened up here?_ Corvis sensed like there was an entire army of demons instead of the few handfuls he could see. "Dunno, but it's too late now. They're behind us, too. We've got no choice but to fight..." As they prepared for the upcoming fight, Yuzu pointed out an area ahead. "The air looks horrible over there! What is this feeling? It's awful..." Moments later, a demon spawned from that air and came forward; the air was still sick and twisted. "Was that a demon...!? Shadow, Atsuro, look! A demon just came out of there!" "Tch...! I guess that's how there got to be so many of them all of a sudden! If we don't do something about that, they'll keep coming!" "Can it be removed?" Corvis asked.

"Yeah! Maybe we can stop the demons from appearing!" "It's worth a shot." Corvis positioned the group and was already planning his strategy. Yuzu glanced at the miasma that wasn't too far from them. "Isn't that a COMP in the middle of the miasma?" "Go and check. We'll take care of the demons." Corvis said. It took a little bit, but Yuzu managed to get to the miasma. "If we can stop this COMP...!" Yuzu turned the COMP off and the miasma vanished. "Yesssss! We have to stop the other COMP, too!" After a few turns, Corvis managed to get to the other COMP and shut it off. _Looks like just turning the COMPs off won't get rid of the rest of the demons._  It took them a little bit, but they managed to kill all the demons. "This is it, eh? I think I'm actually getting the hang of this!" Yuzu said. "Phew...All done! Now how could demons have come out of a COMP on their own...?" "What I want to know is, why's there a COMP on the ground here?" "Someone dropped it." Corvis spoke.  _It's in an area where not a lot of people come to, and even if they do, they aren't gonna have much of a chance to escape and tell someone about it._ "Yeah, probably so. Someone got their hands on an altered COMP and fired it up...summoning the demons." "Huh...So whoever it was..." "I'm...guessing they're not with us anymore." Yuzu said nothing. "Oh...I guess the demons we summon come from somewhere, huh? You think there's a world of demons on the other side of the COMP?" "There's no telling what's on the other side, but anything's possible. This COMP might come in handy later...We should take it with us." "Yeah...You're right. By the way, what's in those COMPs that lets them summon demons?"

"Oh, I figured that out...It turns out the Demon Summoning Program is a client." "Client...? Can you explain this in regular-people words?" "Haha, same ol' Yoohoo! Okay, let me explain this briefly...Programs come in two types: standalone software and network software. The network kind are made up of a host and a client. The host is just like it sounds. It's a program that runs on a server. The client, on the other hand, accesses the server to perform its functions." "Tell me more." Gale said. He was getting most of this, but he didn't have it all down just yet. "Sure, sure. All the client does is send a request to the server and receive the results. The server does the actual processing, so even a low-end machine can handle the client." "So...Basically...These COMPs don't actually do much...All the real work is done on the server, and the COMP just uses the results from there?" Yuzu guessed and Atsuro grinned. "Whoa, you got it! That's pretty much the gist of it. It's a way to let a simple handheld device access very complex functions. The COMP has good networking routines, so it can let the server handle the load." "Okay...I'm kind of getting it now. So where's this server thing?" "No idea. And there's no way to look for it now, either. If I could trace the packets, I might get a fix on it, but not with a normal PC...If we CAN get to the server though, we can monkey with the demon program all we want. In theory, we could summon and dismiss demons at will."

Corvis smiled at his friend's words. "Sounds like fun." "It does, doesn't it? It'll be a blast!" "Uh...I think it's more important to find a way out first!" "Yeah, yeah...I know. Let's go, Shadow!" He nods his head, but glanced up at the darkening sky. "We don't have much time until nightfall; let's head back to Shibuya." "Not Shiba Park?" Yuzu questioned. Shadow shook his head. "Take too long, and out of all of us, I think I'd be the only one who could effectively fight at night. Better to find some shelter for the night." The other two nodded and they started for Shibuya.

* * *

**Shibuya, 19:00**

"The sun's already gone down...And we're no closer to a way out than this morning." "Yeah. It doesn't seem like the lockdown's lifting soon, and night's a bad time to fight. Let's hurry and find shelter. You guys have any friends in the Yamanote circle?" Corvis sighed deeply. "Yeah, but I dunno where they live." "Same here. All my best friends live outside the area. If I could just use my cell, I bet one of my friends could hook us up..." "I know what you mean. If I could log on, I could find a place in no time...Considering the situation, I'd assume nearby schools are in use as evacuation zones. If we don't hurry and find one, we'll have to camp out again...Is that all right?" "Well...I'm pretty tired from walking, so I really don't care where we crash. I just want to get away from the demons for a while and wipe off all this sweat..." "No need to worry about rain, so how about the park? There'll be people and water there. Whatever we decide, I'm starving..." "We only had bread for lunch...If nothing's coming in, does that mean we'll go hungry?" Corvis rested his hand on her shoulder. "I'll look for food." "Cool, I'll help." "Thanks, guys."

Gale guided the group to the closest park and found them a spot for the night; Yuzu almost moaning as she sat down on the bench. "Here." Kihara handed his water bottle to Corvis, who took it and swallowed a mouthful. He handed it back and glanced around, finding a pretty large pack of people and told his friends he'll be right back. "You need something kid?" "I was wondering if you had some food to spare?" One of the men laughed. "We might. What's in it for us?" A woman smacked him upside his head. "Don't be a jerk! How much you need, sweety?" "I'm with two of my friends, so enough for three if that's possible." She pulled her bag open and dug around, a few others doing the same. "Here. It isn't much, but I hope it helps." It was more sweet bread, but there was also some candy and two convenient store packages, one had riceballs, the other had a small selection of sushi. Corvis bowed deeply before he accepted the food. "It does. Thank you very much." The man who had been rude to him looked surprised. "...You're quite formal." Corvis smiled to the man. "It surprises a lot of people. Most people my age aren't like me, huh?" The man shook his head. "Well. Sorry for being rude earlier." Gale shook his head. "It's alright. And again, thank you for the food." He bowed once more before heading back to his friends.

Both of them were shocked with how much he had gotten, but weren't really complaining as they picked what bread they wanted and gathered in a little circle, beginning to eat the only thing that was close to being an actual meal as they had gotten all day. "Man, a lot happened today. Yesterday was a handful, but today was even more packed...The Laplace Mail, the auction, the Cathedral of Shadows...Whew." "The Laplace mail makes you nervous, huh?" "Yeah, those emails aren't a joke or a threat. They really do describe future events." "How can it do that?" "No use wondering about that now...More importantly for us, they've all come true." "Well, we know that now, and our death clock went up after we beat that snowman..." "Yeah. If we get another one tomorrow, let's use it as a guide for what to do." "I don't think it's gonna be a matter of if. As long as I can see the death clock, I think we'll always receive the Laplace mail." His friends were silent after his words, still eating but they did pause.

"...I still can't shake the feeling that I've used the auction before." Kihara sighed. "It seems like demons have been around for quite a while--we just never knew it..." "We're fighting against the demons that appeared, right? But the only way to beat them is to summon other demons...I dunno, I don't like it." "I know what you mean, Yoohoo, but you don't want to die, do you? I think we'll have to make do with what he have until we find a better way." "Yeah..." "Well, at least I'm the one handling the dealings in the auction. And the Cathedral of Shadows is pretty useful for getting new demons." "It fuses demons together to make a new demon, right? Sheez, that's weird..." "Yeah...Like if Shadow and Yuzu merged together and became me..." "Wh-What!? Joined together!? Leave us out of your nightmare fantasies, okay!?" Corvis just laughed as Yuzu's whole face went red. "Calm down! It's just an example. If that happened, would the consciousness inside be mine, Yuzu's or Shadow's...?" "Well, they inherit abilities, so it sounds like they have the previous demons' minds..." "So you think I'd have both your memories and Shadow's?" "Probably, yeah." "Weird...Even though it was my idea, I can't picture at all what it'd be like." "Haha! I guess only a demons would know for sure."

Corvis leaned back, one hand on the ground behind him as he ate a riceball. "Well, I could ask one of ours. We do have demons that were created by fusion, remember?" "Oh, yeah. And you can hear them, too." He grabbed his COMP and closed his eyes to focus in on the demons within each team, choosing one of his own. "Jambavan, can you hear me?" Corvis hushed.  _I can._ "Listen, my friends and I were curious about something."  _You mean about combining two demons to make me?_ Corvis chuckled. "You were listening to us, weren't you?" He felt Jambavan smile.  _I am your protector, I need to know what state of mind you might be in._ Gale smiled.  _And, truthfully, I can hear them some times. I can feel certain thoughts of theirs mixed with my own._ "So your mind isn't just a combination of your 'parents'?" Jambavan shook his head.  _No. I have my own consciousness, but their presents is still felt within my mind and that influences some of my own thoughts._ "I see. Well, thank you for telling me."  _Anytime, young one._ "So, what'd he say?" "He does have his own mind, but he can still feel the thoughts of the original demons I fused together." "How weird..." Yuzu said, half covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she spoke.

Gale stared at the device in his hand for a minute. "What do you guys think about the COMPs?" Yuzu sighed. "I guess we'll have go get better with our COMPs...but how long will this go on?" "Naoya seemed to think this won't end anytime soon...If you've noticed, the COMPs have way more functions than they did when we got them. It's easier on the user to get used to all the different functions little by little...Did Naoya think so too? It that why he's doing things this way?" Corvis nodded his head. "He already planned this." "Huh...You're right. It does seems that way, doesn't it?" "Not cool! There's no reason for him to drag us into this!" "Mmm...I'm sure there's SOME reason..." "Oh yeah? Like what?" "Alright, alright...We don't have to talk about his now. We'll ask Naoya himself when we meet up with him." "You're right...Sorry. Yeah, let's do that." Corvis felt something cold slide down his spine. He didn't like it one bit. "Let's sleep in shifts." Corvis said. "Yeah, good plan. It'd suck if we got attacked by demons in the middle of the night." "Don't forget to charge your COMPs while you're at it. They're out lifelines." Yuzu let out a defeated breath as she wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes shining slightly with tears. "...I wanna go home..."

* * *

**Shibuya, 22:00**

Gale glanced around as he listened to Yuzu and Atsuro sleep; Yuzu on the bench, Kihara next to her on the ground, using his arm as a pillow. He had been gathering what was left of their food into one of the plastic containers, when he heard a sound coming from his left. Slowly shifting his eyes in that direction, he spotted a demon walking around. Without Amane there to cast a barrier, everyone in the park was in danger. Corvis took his COMP and flanked the demon. With a high whistle, the drew the attention of the lone demon, getting it to chase him away from the park and into an alleyway. With Ogre and Jambavan at his side, he quickly killed the demon. He walked back to the park and sat down, moving Atsuro's head into his lap again after he heard his COMPs' email went off.

The first one he read was from Naoya.

_**Running the email server during peak hours, while the demon summoning program is most active, consumes too many system resources and causes the entire system to become unstable.** _

_**As a precaution, I've restricted email usage during the day to the server's automated functions and to the administrator, me. Sorry but you'll only be able to use the COMPs' email at night. Bear with me here.** _

_**You can only do so much by yourself. Be sure to communicate.** _

The second was the first one he recieved from Yuzu.

**_Yesterday was 1 thing but im soooo mad that we couldn't get home after running around all day (;w;)_ **

**_Not knowing when we'll get out really bugs me. Im ok w/u guys during the day but at night im like OH NOEZ! If i could use my cel phone to call home i wouldn't b so worried._ **

**_Maaaaan...If only i could get a hot shower id feel a little refreshed. I wish i knew someone who lived around here..._ **

Corvis had to hold in a laugh as he replied,  ** _I feel grody, too._** And went on the last email, which was from the sleeping Atsuro.

**_This demon summoning program is crazy awesome. I can't count how many times it's saved out butts today._ **

**_Did Naoya make it because he knew the world would be filled with demons? Or is he the one causing them to appear in the first place? Insufficient data...I just can't figure it out._ **

**_I stopped talking about it because we can't get an answer, but I really wonder what Naoya's goals are here._ **

**_The mail said the lockdown would stay for a while, but I doubt it'll stay like this.  Things are getting worse by the minute. What's going to happen?_ **

**_I really wish I had more information..._ **

Corvis glanced at his resting friend and sent him the reply of,  ** _What's he up to?_**  He closed his COMP and closed his eyes, not going to sleep since he needed to wait until Yuzu woke up before he could.  _Young one, may I ask you something?_ "Sure, what's on your mind?" Jambavan was silent for a moment, trying to word his question right.  _How many of your Kerai have you found?_ "So far, 5. Atsuro, Yuzu, Amane, Keisuke, and Midori."  _I see._ "...Did you know my ancestor?" Jambavan nodded his bear head, Corvis almost feeling the soft fur against his skin.  _I knew him quite well. Not as intimate as the demons you'll have later on, but I knew him._ "What can you tell me about him?"  _Despite how harsh he was in combat, he was kind to those under his command. He always cared about the lives of other humans, never allowing innocents to die._ "Did he treat you guys well?" Jambavan smiled.  _Yes. He was never afraid of us; in fact some of my kind was afraid of him. Not sure if any of them are interested in the events happening, or even if they are alive, but your ancestor did strike fear in us as well as his enemies._ Gale nodded as he held in a yawn, starting to feel his eyes begin to grow heavy.  _The young girl is almost awake._ Corvis grinned as he felt Jambavan leave his mind, keeping that grin as Yuzu woke up. With her help, they moved Atsuro onto the bench and Corvis moved to the flat side of the bench, leaned against it, and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologizes. I didn't mean to take so long in writing this chapter, but life got in the way. I'm starting a new job tomorrow, so I'm not sure how frequently I'll be posting new chapters for this, so please know that I will try to write as much as I can whenever I can and try to finish this as quickly as I can.
> 
> Again, I apologize for the long delay, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


End file.
